Policy experts say Republican-backed budget plans include new restrictions on the federal child tax credit that could deprive millions of children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents.
this Proposed tax and expenditure legislation - Supporters call it "a big and beautiful bill" - including a requirement that taxpayer and the person's spouse have a social security number that can require a child tax credit or CTC for children. This means that children with mixed-race parents, such as one who is a U.S. citizen, instead of the second, are no longer eligible for the tax credit, said Carl Davis, director of research at ITEP, a nonpartisan tax research group.
Children born in the United States make them American citizens, but children whose parents do not prove will also be banned from CTC. In some cases, one or two parents of children authorized to be in the United States may lack the number of social insurance. For example, parents who use non-work visas in the United States (such as graduate students with educational visas) will be prohibited from obtaining tax credits.
The proposed restrictions are part of a push by Republican lawmakers to ensure tax breaks are not filed for immigration. However, the new policy will have a secondary impact on rejecting tax credits for millions of children currently eligible for benefits.
CTC is now $2,000 per eligible child and has been proven to lift children out of poverty, and currently requires each child to have a valid social security number instead of parents.
Republicans say the bill would benefit families by raising the CTC to $2,500 for three years, and then adjusting inflation of the tax credit every year, so its value will not erode over time.
A spokesperson for Republican members of the Congressional panel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In May, “in this bill, working families, farmers and small businesses won the victory,” House committee chair Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, said on the House floor last month. “We expand and make permanent deductions for small business deductions and increase child tax credits, standard deductions and exempt death taxes.”
He added: “President Trump has blocked the movement of illegal immigrants across our borders – the bill will prevent taxpayers’ welfare from flowing into their pockets.”
According to the Brookings Agency, most undocumented immigrants have been blocked from receiving most federal tax benefits. The Republican tax bill could eliminate tax breaks for many people who are legally immigrants in the United States, such as refugees or education visas, the think tank said in a recent report.
As the legislative process develops, more changes are likely to occur in tax bills. The Senate is currently taking the measure after it screams in the house with profits from a single vote. Some senators have be opposed tofor example, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, said the bill would “explode debt.”
However, if the CTC restrictions translate it into law, this would affect approximately 4.5 million children, the largest of which are in California, Texas and Florida.
"Now, the proposal is actually to tighten the eligibility rules further and say, 'We basically don't care if the child is a citizen--we need everyone in the family to be a citizen or otherwise have legal status in order to pay for the credit."
Under the Republican bill, two spouses in a given family must also have a Social Security number to qualify for many other tax relief, including eliminating the Worker tips and overtime fees.
Itep's Davis said this would create different tax rules for immigrants who have no social insurance numbers and immigrants who have no social insurance numbers and immigrants with no document or immigrants with valid visas for immigrants who do not allow them to have a social insurance number.
“It seems to be said that if your parents do not qualify for their immigration status, your children will be treated differently than all other children in the United States.
The Child Tax Credit, created in 1997, was boosted by President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Employment Act, which doubled the credit line to $2,000 per eligible child, although the provision will expire by the end of 2025, when the credit will return $1,000 per child.
From 2025 to 2028, the Republican tax bill will increase the CTC to $2,500 per child, at which point the credit will return its $2,000. The tax credit will also be adjusted to inflation every year to ensure that its value does not erode over time.
Eligible parents can ask for a CTC when filing taxes, which can help families reduce tax liability or get a tax refund. During the pandemic, CTC has received a temporary boost, increasing its maximum credit per child to $3,600 while helping millions of families with half of the proceeds through monthly payments Affordable school supplies and other thingsclothing and education programs for children.
Last year's efforts to expand CTC Failed to move forward in the Senate Facing the general Republican opposition.
“When families count on this money, it means making sure they have school supplies and they can use food and groceries,” Gonzalez said. “This makes them a better trajectory in their lives because they can’t get that credit, and all of this can be lost.”