Fact Sheet Expanding the Child Tax Credit Could Lift Millions of Children out of Poverty
Gregory Acs, Kevin Werner
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The American Rescue Plan Act expanded the child tax credit (CTC) to include 17-year-olds, increased the benefit from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under age 6 and to $3,000 for children between ages 6 and 17, and made the credit fully refundable so even very low-income families could claim the full value. Making these changes permanent would decrease child poverty (as measured by the Supplemental Poverty Measure) more than 40 percent in a typical year, meaning 4.3 million fewer children would be in poverty. Child poverty would decline by 50 percent or more in 11 states and would be below 10 percent in all but three states.

Research Areas Families Taxes and budgets Children and youth
Tags Economic well-being Individual taxes From Safety Net to Solid Ground Child Tax Credit
Policy Centers Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population
Research Methods ATTIS Microsimulation Model