MEMPHIS, Tenn. —- Raising a child is no child’s play. Ask Jamie Williams, who has five kids under 9 years old.
“Groceries add up. The older they get the more they want to eat. Then they get involved in activities and things like that,” Williams said.
But she and other parents are on the verge of getting some big help to raise their kids. The new $1.9 trillion relief package just passed Congress and it has a big win for parents — guaranteed income.
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WREG talked to U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis just moments before he voted to pass the spending package.
“This is for lower income people, a real benefit,” said Cohen.
For parents with kids under 6 years old, it means a $3,600 tax credit for each child. It’s $3,000 for those over the age 6 and up to and including age 17.
The new twist is, you don’t just get to use the money on your taxes.
“The parents can get that as a tax credit and it’s also a fully refundable child tax credit. It will reduce your taxes. And if it reduces your taxes so that you don’t pay any, you will get cash back,” said Cohen.
That’s monthly money going right to parents for each child.
Larry Watson has two daughters and knows the difference help can make.
“We just had a couple of injuries to our little girls. We had to go to the emergency room. It was very expensive,” Watson said. “A lot of parents they are out of work right now. They are really suffering.”
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But these parents are also leery of what is really attached to the funding.
“I don’t know. Long term somebody has got to pay it back. If it’s not on us it will be on them when they are older,” Jamie Williams said.
“We have to really understand what is in the stimulus. What do have to give up down the road to get that now?” Watson said.
But lawmakers say for children in poverty, this is a windfall.
“This is a revolutionary program in helping people who are on the front lines, helping people touched the most by the pandemic, lower income people who have to work,” said Congressman Cohen. “This is a game changer.”
President Biden still has to sign the stimulus package, then parents could start seeing those savings very quickly.
Cohen says it’s a temporary measure, but he hopes it becomes permanent.
