“A drop in the number of households with children reporting food insufficiency and difficulty paying household expenses may be linked to child tax credit checks issued last month,” according to the results of a survey taking ” the pulse of American households (House Pulse Survey).
The American rescue plan in the amount of 1.9 trillion dollars was definitively approved by Congress on March 10 and signed the next day by Joe Biden.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shed a harsh light on inequalities in the United States, where there is no social safety net and where the savings rate is low or even non-existent for the most modest households as well as for the poorest households. black and Hispanic minorities. When he arrived at the White House, Joe Biden had deplored “the scandal” of a country, the world’s leading economic power, where so many people are hungry.
“One in seven households in America, and more than one in five in black and Latino households, report that they do not have enough to eat,” he stressed in February while defending the American Rescue Plan. “This includes almost 30 million adults and 12 million children.”
A real positive impact on the lives of American children
To tackle this situation, one of the flagship measures of the 1.9 trillion plan is the expansion of tax credits for childcare from which the most modest households were previously excluded.
The Tax Service (IRS) began issuing an advance monthly child tax credit in mid-July, recalls the Census Bureau.
“About 35 million families have received the first monthly payment of up to $ 300 for each child 5 and under and up to $ 250 for each child 6 to 17,” he says.
He adds that households with children who reported food insufficiency declined by 3 percentage points between surveys conducted before and after these payments.
“Adults in households without children have not seen a change in food insufficiency over the same period,” he notes. Many people who participated in the survey indicated that the checks received paid for a multitude of things.
But almost half (47%) said they spend it on food. In addition, 17% of households with at least one child under 5 reported spending this check on childcare. Payments are to continue monthly until December.
The Treasury Department announced Friday that the state had made the second tax credit deduction for a total amount of $ 15 billion.
“Today, 61 million children across America are benefiting from the Child Advance Tax Credit, helping families put food on the table and meet the needs of the next generation,” said the Assistant Secretary Wally Adeyemo in a statement.
The Treasury, referring to the Census study, estimated that “this tax break has (had) a real impact on the lives of American children.”
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