Supporters in favor of extending a program benefiting some 1.1 million Minnesota children during the COVID-19 pandemic are hoping Congress and President Joe Biden reach a deal before it expires at the end of the year.
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) met virtually Tuesday morning to discuss the importance of making the expanded Child Tax Credit permanent for not only Minnesota families, but families across the United States.
"The Child Tax Credit has been around for a long time and it has helped families with children afford the everyday expenses that they have, but it was seriously flawed," said Sen. Smith.
Earlier this year the American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit Program increasing the credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of six, and raised the age limit from 16 to 17.
Smith said one of the key provisions of the credit's expansion actually made money more accessible for low income families, adding that many would face a unstable financial future without it.
"Ironically, if you were a family that made too little money to even pay taxes, you saw no benefits at all," Smith said. "We fixed that in the American Rescue Plan, but only for a year. So now what we need to do is make this improvement permanent."
Families began receiving monthly payments of $250 or $300 per child in mid-July, without having to take any action. Lisa Zarling, a single parent of three, lives in Waconia and said that the payments helped ease some of the financial peril caused by the pandemic's rollercoaster of uncertainty.
"I am usually unable to work when school gets shutdown because my kids are here all the time, are little, and need my help," Zarling said. "I can't do things when they're here."
Zarling, who runs a direct sales business from her home, said her kids had to move to distance learning after a teacher tested positive for COVID-19. Despite her kids not testing positive, they were still at-home as the teacher quarantined.
"It really impacts your finances having a week or two off of work," Zarling said. "And having this extra money helps to make a car payment or pay a light bill. My light bill a month ago was almost $800 because I haven't been able to pay it."
According to Sen. Smith, extending the provisions of the Child Tax Credit made 321,000 Minnesota children eligible for child tax credit payments earlier this year.
Zarling says that she wasn't able to qualify for the credit because of the toll that the pandemic took on her business.
"This year, my sales are just shy of $22,000 and during COVID my sales were literally $9,000 so I didn't get any taxes back at all when I filed taxes," she said. "I would've gotten absolutely zero. The year before that I got $2,000 and I have three children all who are young ages. This $3,600 per kid makes a huge difference for those of us who are on the lower income spectrum."