by Christy Bieber | Feb. 10, 2021
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President Biden's plan provides a lot of help for those in need.
The Democrats are moving quickly to pass a coronavirus stimulus package that offers the financial help they believe struggling families need during the pandemic.
The proposal includes stimulus checks, as well as an expanded Child Tax Credit. With these two sources of financial relief, a family of four could get as much as $12,800 in stimulus money, depending on income and the children's ages.
The $12,800 in relief money would come from two primary sources:
The expanded Child Tax Credit would be a change to the current Child Tax Credit, valued at $2,000 per child, but only partly refundable. Under the expansion, families would be entitled to the full amount of the credit even if they do not owe that much in taxes. This is similar to the way coronavirus stimulus checks have worked.
The $12,800 number is specifically the amount of money that could be available to a family of four people with two children under six.
But if you are single, or have more or fewer children, you should be entitled to stimulus money and/or Child Tax Credits as well. You can figure out how much you'd receive by assuming a $1,400 stimulus check for each person in your family and a $3,000 payment for each child over 6, or $3,600 payment for each child under that age.
However, there are income limits for both the stimulus payment and the Child Tax Credits. Under the proposal:
Of course, in order for anyone to receive this money, Congress must turn the current stimulus proposal into law.
It's not clear if this will happen. Democrats likely can move the legislation as-is in the House. But in the Senate, they have just 50 votes, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties. Although 60 votes are normally required to overcome a filibuster and advance a bill in the Senate, Democrats can use a procedure called reconciliation to move forward without Republican support. But there are some nuances regarding what type of legislation can be passed that way, and it's possible the expanded Child Tax Credit won't qualify.
Still, $1,400 stimulus checks will almost certainly be on the way. And Democrats are eager to increase the Child Tax Credit, so they may look for other avenues to do so if it isn't part of the stimulus plan. They may even be able to get bipartisan support on this issue, as some Republicans have suggested they might be interested in overhauling this tax, too.
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