The fourth monthly payment of the expanded Child Tax Credit will arrive in bank accounts on Friday, with anti-poverty experts claiming that the regular cash deposits are helping to alleviate suffering among families across the country.
The current incarnation of the Child Tax Credit only has two checks left after the October 15 payment. The Biden Administration proposes extending the expanded CTC through 2025, delivering a monthly cash child allowance to around 60 million children. However, the benefit’s survival may be in jeopardy due to lawmakers’ concerns about its cost and structure.
According to CBS News, parents of approximately 60 million children will receive direct deposit payments on October 15, while others will receive checks in the mail a few days to a week later. Parents of children under six will receive $300 per child, while parents of children aged six to seventeen would receive $250 per child.
Jacob Goldin, an associate professor of law at Stanford University and an expert on taxes and low-income households, said, “The evidence from talking with families about how they use the money is they are spending it on savings, on utilities, on clothes, and food for their kids.”
The payments have alleviated immediate hardship for families with children aged 17 and under, with anti-poverty advocates claiming that the checks are especially crucial for low-income households.
However, as the pandemic continues, many Americans are financially vulnerable.
According to a poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, about one in five households lost all of their money during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently have no savings.
The poll found that bout 4 in 10 households have recently experienced serious financial issues.
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