Overhauled by the American Rescue Plan pandemic relief bill in March, the 2021 child tax credit not only got bigger (the maximum went from $2,000 to between $3,000 and $3,600 per child, depending on age and family income,) but was expanded to cover low-income families who didn’t make enough money to claim an offset to taxes in the past. The Jain Family Institute researchers suggested the government consider other outreach efforts, including automatically registering children for the credit at birth or if they’re enrolled in other benefit programs. Democrats on Capitol Hill have proposed doing just that, as well as extending the 2021 changes to the tax credit through 2025, as President Joe Biden has called for. The changes are part of an ambitious $3.5 trillion spending package being hashed out by lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee this week.
