VIDEOGRAPHER: SIMONA LUCCHI
ATLANTA – Millions of American families with children will start receiving monthly payments this week as a result of the temporary expanded child tax credit introduced as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
The credit — up to $3,600 per child, paid out in monthly installments and/or a lump sum this year — is expected to cut child poverty in half, said Ray Khalfani, a research associate at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
Khalfani said the tax credit will be especially beneficial to people of color who are being left behind in the economic recovery since widespread vaccination slowed the coronavirus pandemic.
“This policy will help our families recover from the pandemic, and a permanent expansion of the child tax credit will ensure these benefits don’t go away,” he said.
An analysis from GBPI projected the current policy could lower national poverty rates from 13.9% to 5.9%.
Genesis Appiah, a Georgia mother of a six-year-old daughter, said that in addition to helping pay for food, childcare, and rent, the monthly credit will allow her to take her daughter out for ice cream or to Chuck E. Cheese— a luxury she has not been able to afford, despite working two jobs.
“Children … don’t care about bills that need to be paid,” Appiah said. “They want to have fun and that’s what they deserve.”
She echoed calls for the benefit to be made permanent.
“I know too many families that have to worry about more than just taking their children to Chuck E. Cheese,” Appiah said.
Most families that qualify will automatically receive the payments without having to sign up if they filed taxes in 2019 or 2020, or if they signed up to receive a coronavirus stimulus check. The maximum amount for a child under six — $3,600 — is distributed in six monthly installments of $300 and a lump sum of $1,800 when the head of household files taxes.
Families who wish to receive the credit all at once can opt-out and get the full payment when they file their taxes.
For Pamela Grisham, an unemployed mother of four from Georgia, the payments will allow her 8 and 10-year-old daughters to restart gymnastics and therapy.
Grisham said she’s been unemployed since the beginning of the pandemic. Back in March, her unemployment checks stopped arriving, and she said she doesn’t know why.
“It was a lot,” said Grisham. “My kids were stripped away of everything. I want to give them a life again.”
While the expanded child tax credit is the largest families have ever received, and includes those who don’t make enough to be required to file taxes, it only lasts until the end of the tax year, said Kimberly Scott, the executive director of Georgia Women’s Action for New Direction, an Atlanta-based nonprofit.
“Congress must act, and they must act now … so that the economic gains we have seen in the last few months aren’t erased, particularly the gains made by the communities of color, which have been hit the hardest,” Scott said.
Scott described the expanded credit as “especially meaningful” for Black women and people of color, as they often face persistent discrimination in pay and hiring and are frequently relegated to the lowest-paying jobs.
A version of this article was originally published by Fresh Take Georgia.