Being a parent during COVID-19 has no doubt been an extremely stressful experience. You worry a lot about your child: what changes you’ll have to make to the budget, how being out of school will affect them, and whether or not they’re even safe playing with other children outside. For parents of immunocompromised children, these fears are only compounded.
Hospital visits are already expensive, and you often have to balance your child’s health with your finances. Luckily, the Treasury Department is pitching in to help parents and guardians with their financial woes. As part of the coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden announced that many families will be eligible to receive monthly child payments in tax credit.
Families who qualify for the government aid will receive as much as $300 a week per child to give struggling families the help they need during quarantine. According to the IRS, nearly 88% of children will be able to receive these benefits without their parents having to do anything on their part.
This has better implications for American families than simply those suffering from COVID. Child poverty has been an issue even before the pandemic. During the course of 2020, child poverty rose to 16%, with 73% being children of minorities. With schools being closed and lunches provided by the school no longer an option, these families may find it hard to properly provide for their children during these times.
These tax cuts could not only give aid to parents who need a little extra help during the pandemic, but also put a dent in child poverty. During times of struggle, it should be a priority for the government to step in and ease the lives of their citizens, and it’s such a relief that that seems like where we’re headed in 2021. As stated by President Joe Biden,
This tax cut sends a clear and powerful message to American workers, working families with children: Help is here.