WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of Western New York families will start getting a federally funded monthly boost to their bank accounts around July 15 – but government officials and advocates for the poor are worried about the thousands who are eligible for that boost but don't know they have to sign up for it.
While most of the 107,000 families in the region that qualify for the benefit will get their payments automatically, about 6,668 families throughout Western New York will have to file an online form in order to get the payments, according to a White House estimate.
Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand keeps a long legislative wish list – and in announcing his American Families Plan this week, President Biden checked four items off it.
"This is critical for getting families who have not filed before or have very low income to sign up and get the benefit," said Gene Sperling, senior adviser to President Biden and coordinator of his American Rescue Plan.
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Families can sign up for the benefit at a government website built for people who don't normally file tax returns.
To make sure that the nation's poorest families know they're eligible for the expanded child tax credit, the Biden administration named Monday Child Tax Credit Awareness Day. And in Buffalo, Rep. Brian Higgins and a number of social service organizations marked the occasion with a press conference to get the word out that even if your family didn't pay taxes last year, you still will likely qualify for that monthly payment from the federal government.
The American Rescue Plan showers money on the Empire State in myriad ways.
"There's a potential that you can fall through the cracks, so we're doing everything that we can through media outreach, through these not-for-profits, to help us identify people who qualify and to help them do something to activate the enhanced child tax credit," said Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat.
Passed as part of Biden's stimulus bill called the American Rescue Plan, the expanded child tax credit will provide $3,600 annually for children under age 6 and $3,000 for those ages 6 to 17 for most American families.Â
That is a vast expansion of a tax credit that's been on the books since 1997. What's more, the credit will be administered far differently starting in July, when most families that qualify for the credit will start seeing per-child payments – $300 for each child under age 6 and $250 per child age 6 and up – appearing in their bank accounts monthly if they get their tax refunds via direct deposit. Other taxpayers who get their refunds in the mail will get the credit via monthly check.
That accounts for about 88% of taxpayers who qualify for the credit, but federal officials are worried about the other 12%, most of whom are too poor to even have to file federal tax returns.
Those people still qualify for the credit, and to make sure they get it, federal officials not only set up a website – www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/child-tax-credit-non-filer-sign-up-tool – but enlisted congressional offices and nonprofits to help. Higgins said people in Buffalo can reach out to his office for help, or to one of the nonprofits that joined him at the press conference: FeedMore of WNY, Parent Network of WNY, WNY Women’s Foundation and the Beverly Gray Business Exchange Center.
The so-called child allowance is just one of several poverty-fighting measures in the stimulus bill, which doubles as a thick, but perhaps temporary, extra layer in the nation's safety net.
"The expansion of the Child Tax Credit will make a significant impact on the lives of children and families in the city of Buffalo and throughout Western New York," said Shatorah Donovan, chair of the Beverly Gray Business Exchange Center. "Through this improved program, the burden of providing the necessities of life will be reduced for those who need it most."
Higgins estimated that the tax credit will lift 9,500 children out of poverty in his largely urban, Buffalo-based congressional district.
The full child tax credit is available to single parents making up to $75,000, head of household filers earning up to $112,500 and joint filers making up to $150,000. Families making more than that will be eligible for a portion of the credit, which phases out completely for single filers who make more than $200,000 and joint filers making more than $400,000.Â
The economic stimulus bill being formulated in Congress promises to bring at least $250 per child per month to low- and middle-income families across America.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat who served as chief negotiator of the American Rescue Plan, said the expanded credit was largely designed to benefit working families.
“As hundreds of thousands of Western New Yorkers rebuild and recover from the pandemic that exposed and exacerbated economic inequality, working families and families who are struggling to get by will receive a lifeline in the expanded child tax credit," he said.
