payments

25Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

4 Essential Reads: US Families With Kids Are Getting Monthly Payments From The Government

Emily Schwartz Greco, The Conversation Most U.S. families with children will get six monthly payments from the government in 2021, starting July 15. Parents and guardians may spend this money – $300 per child under 6 and $250 for every kid or teen who is 6 and up – on groceries, computers, child care, sneakers or however else they see fit. Eighty-eight percent of U.S. families with children under 18 are eligible for this new allowance Congress approved in March as part of a coronavirus relief package, which extends the child tax credit to the lowest-earning Americans. In addition to getting either $250 or $300 a month per kid for six months, families will also get a tax credit equal to six more monthly installments at tax time in 2022. The Internal Revenue Service is responsible for deli...

Not Humiliating Poor People – An Advantage Of The Government’s New Payments For Families

The US$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed in March 2021 will expand the child tax credit for one year. Instead of providing families with up to $2,000 per child under 17, the government will distribute a total of $3,600 for each child under 6 and $3,000 for kids under 18. Some economists predict that these payments, which will go to all but the wealthiest parents in two ways – monthly starting in July 2021 and as a lump sum when parents file their taxes in 2022 – could cut U.S. child poverty by nearly 50%. Today, about 1 in 7 U.S. children live below the official poverty line. I’m a law professor who researches the often-humiliating and punitive hurdles that poor families face when they apply for some government benefits. From my perspective, this new appr...

Cash Payments: Why They Aren’t Always The Best Tool To Help The Poor

The concept is simple and seductive: Give people cash, lift them out of poverty. It’s a strategy increasingly being used in both lower- and higher-income countries to help poor people. International organizations such as the World Bank, USAID and the United Nations are funding more projects that focus on giving people cash, while charities like GiveDirectly have been set up to do only that. Mexico, Brazil and Kenya are leading examples of countries that have already implemented ambitious guaranteed income programs of their own. The U.S. is also experimenting more with cash payments. The US$1.9 trillion relief package, for example, will give recurring payments to most families with children. Stockton, California – the first U.S. city to give low-income people cash with no strings attached...