Child advocates from Michigan who gathered for a virtual panel on Friday said that if Congress doesn’t adopt an enhanced Child Tax Credit by the end of the year, it will be significantly more challenging to do so.
Food Insecurity In Michigan
Research has shown that there has been a significant rise in food insecurity in Michigan after the federal monthly advanced child tax credits expired on January 15.
Due to their families’ insufficient income, around 554,000 children in Michigan no longer get the complete $2,000 CTC information and execute those families deeper into poverty. The CTC is “refundable,” which means that families are eligible for the total credit sum regardless of their income level or tax debt.
A tax credit could sometimes only be advantageous to those with sufficient income to cover certain taxes. Families with the lowest wages do not collect the entire credit if the CTC is not recoverable because their tax bill is insufficiently high.
This is despite widespread support for a permanent CTC generally from members of Congress, according to Cassie Thierfelder, director of advocacy & government affairs for United Way for Southeastern Michigan, because some of the specific details, like the refundability fraction of the credit, do not have as much assistance.
Increase In Child Tax Credit
In response to the pandemic, Congress raised the credit’s base amount from $2,000 to $3,000 to $3,600 for youngsters under six.
At the same time, it addressed the CTC’s refundability component, which would have otherwise prevented the lowest-income households from getting full credit. These two components must be permanently reintroduced to combat poverty and aid families.
MLPP, Michigan’s Children, and United Way for Southeastern Michigan are part of a coalition of CTC expansion proponents that has paid for billboard as well as digital advertising on the problems in the state’s upcoming weeks, including in Lansing, Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids reports Michigan Advance.