Frequently Asked Questions

  • Of the roughly 68 million children under age 17 in the U.S., 70 percent live in households that receive the full value of the Child Tax Credit: $2,000 per child. Per the Tax Policy Center, another 22.4 percent live in households that receive some, but not all of the Child Tax Credit because their families' income is too low (2.8% receive no CTC at all because of low earnings.)

  • In the version of the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill” that passed the House May 22, Congress would:

    • Increase the maximum CTC to $2,500 for four years, from 2025 to 2028 

    • Starting in 2029, index the CTC for inflation

    • Limit the credit to only taxpayers with Social Security Numbers (SSNs). 

  • According to the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy, a married couple with two children would need to earn $48,000 in order to be eligible for the full expanded amount of Child Tax Credit included the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” (see chart below).

  • Because the bill, as written, makes no changes to how the credit phases in, it provides no additional benefit to the 17 million children in low-income families who currently receive only some or none of the Child Tax Credit.

  • Because the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” increases the top-line value of the Child Tax Credit without changing the phase-in or refundability structure, families have to hit higher income thresholds to receive the full benefit of the credit. This means that families with multiple children and/or a single wage earner may have a harder time fully benefiting from the changes included in the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” Act.

    For example, a married couple with three children must currently earn $39,000 to be eligible for the full $6,000 of the current Child Tax Credit. Under the changes in the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill," they would need to increase their after-tax income by 43 percent, to $56,000 in order to receive the full, $7,500 value of the newly-expanded Child Tax Credit.

  • Per the Joint Committee on Taxation, the budgetary impact of the CTC provisions in the House-passed bill is $797 billion over ten years. 

  • At the outset, a $10,000 earnings threshold in the CTC interacted with the Earned Income Tax Credit, with the initial intent being that low-income families would be supported by the EITC, then have their tax liability reduced by the CTC. That threshold was reduced to $3,000 in 2009 and to $2,500 in 2017.

    Allowing the Child Tax Credit to phase-in at the first dollar would be of most benefit to families in the bottom half of the income distribution.

  • According to the Tax Policy Center, lowering the phase-in threshold from $2,500 in income to starting at the first dollar of income would cost roughly $8.8 billion over ten years.