White House Seeks To Boost Awareness Of Checks Coming To Parents

A top White House goal this year is to slash child poverty by sending monthly checks to parents starting in July.

We will lift half of Americas children out of poverty, Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday, calling the anticipated policy achievement her favorite thing about her job.

The reduction of child poverty is not a done deal, however. Since the checks are technically tax credits, its up to the Internal Revenue Service to send the money, but the agency may struggle to reach some of the millions of people who dont file federal taxes.

To that end, Harris appeared at a Washington, D.C., child care center to promote the expanded child tax credit that congressional Democrats approved as part of the American Rescue Plan, and to announce a new Child Tax Credit Awareness Day on June 21.

Im here to ask you all, as leaders, to be a part of that of lifting up awareness of what has been designed to help folks, to make sure they know, Harris told a group of teachers and administrators at the child care center. The IRS also has a promotional awareness day for the earned income tax credit.

The American Rescue Plan that Congress passed in March increased the child tax credit from $2,000 per child to $3,600 per child under 6 and $3,000 per child under 18. And instead of just reducing peoples tax bills, the IRS will distribute the credit as an advance payment starting next month. The vast majority of households with children will get payments of $250 or $300 per child.

The money for parents could dramatically change politics, providing a monthly benefit for middle class and poor parents alike, similar to the kind of child allowance other wealthy nations have long offered parents.

HuffPost readers: Are you already budgeting with this extra cash in mind? Tell us about it email arthur@huffpost.com . Please include your phone number if youre willing to be interviewed.

Roughly 12 million Americans did not file federal income taxes in 2020 because theres no filing requirement for people who dont earn enough income to owe federal tax. As many as 10% of children live in non-filing households that should be eligible for the payment, according to an analysis of IRS data by the Peoples Policy Project, a left-wing think tank.

The IRS partnered with the Social Security Administration to send coronavirus relief checks to many of them, but still missed several million.