Tax Break: Claim More Kids (H.R. 4935)

What is H.R. 4935?

(Updated July 13, 2017)

As the law stands today, people can claim a child tax credit of $1,000 for each qualifying child they have under the age of 17. This bill would track the change of inflation and determine the child tax credit people receive based on those fluctuations.

The current law also states that people in certain tax brackets — married couples who jointly file their taxes with a gross income of over $110,00 and individuals with incomes over $75,000 — have their aggregated child tax credits “phased out” or gradually reduced. This bill would raise the “phase out” limit to $150,000 for people filing their taxes together and base the limit on an inflation index for individual taxpayers. If enacted, the bill would be applied after December 31, 2014.

Argument in favor

Allows for a larger portion of the population to claim child tax credits. Parents get to keep more money to combat the rising costs of raising children.

Argument opposed

This bill would cost the nation too much money to implement and disproportionately benefits higher-income families.

Impact

Taxpayers with and without children, and the federal budget.

Cost of H.R. 4935

The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates that between 2014 and 2024 this legislation would increase the federal budget deficit by about $115 billion. This estimate considers that H.R. 4935 would reduce revenues over that ten-year period by roughly $94 billion and increase direct spending by $21 billion.

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