This month, additional funding—as much as $300 per child per month — began arriving at millions of California households, including in Lancaster and Palmdale, making it the state with the most to gain from recent changes to the child tax credit.
The windfall will only last six months, with Congress allowed time to make it permanent.
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) is among the 33 members of the California congressional delegation who have endorsed the American Family Act (H.R. 928), which would make the changes permanent. Rep. Roybal-Allard also was instrumental in the effort to commission and fund a study by the National Academy of Sciences on the effects of child poverty in the United States, which identified the Child Tax Credit as one of the most effective tools against child poverty.
Changes to the Child Tax Credit, implemented as part of the American Rescue Plan, increased the annual rebate to as much as $3,600 per child per year, allowed delivery of benefits monthly, and included an additional 27 million children previously left behind. These provisions expire at the end of 2021.
If they were made permanent, more than 7.8 million of California’s children — or 86 percent of children statewide—would reportedly benefit, more than any other state in the nation, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. More than half of these children — 4.5 million— are Latino and another 1.6 million are Black or children of color. Making the tax cut permanent also would reduce child poverty across the state by 34 percent.
“The California delegation, and especially Rep. Roybal-Allard, who is a longtime Champion for Children, have been amazingly supportive of making this tax cut permanent,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children. “Improving the Child Tax Credit is one of our most powerful tools for reducing child poverty and provides American families with the support they need to raise the country’s next generation.”
Thirty-three of California’s 53 members of the House of Representatives have endorsed the American Family Act (H.R. 928), which would make these tax cuts permanent.
A study, titled “A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty,” identified strengthening and expanding the Child Tax Credit and converting it into a monthly child allowance as one of the most powerful ways to address child poverty and increase long-term positive outcomes for the nation’s children.
