Who Benefits from the Child Tax Credit?

31 Pages Posted: 24 Nov 2020 Last revised: 25 Oct 2021

See all articles by Jacob Goldin

Jacob Goldin

Stanford Law School

Katherine Michelmore

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; Syracuse University

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Date Written: October 22, 2021

Abstract

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) provides a cash transfer of up to $2,000 per child under age 17 to millions of families in the United States. Using the Current Population Survey, we examine the aggregate effects and distributional implications of the rules governing children’s eligibility for the credit. While approximately 90% of all children qualify for at least a partial CTC, we document striking disparities in eligibility by income and race. The vast majority of children living in households in the bottom decile of the national AGI distribution are completely ineligible for the CTC and the majority of filers in the bottom thirty percent are eligible only for a partial credit. In contrast, virtually all children living in households in the top half of the income distribution qualify for the full credit amount. Approximately three-quarters of white and Asian children are eligible for the full CTC, compared to only about half of Black and Hispanic children. We use our results to estimate the distributional effects of a range of reforms to the CTC eligibility rules. Our results suggest that reforming the credit to include a larger share of children would more evenly distribute the credit’s benefits across children of different races and incomes.

Keywords: Child tax credit, tax policy,

Suggested Citation

Goldin, Jacob and Michelmore, Katherine, Who Benefits from the Child Tax Credit? (October 22, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3708961 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3708961

Jacob Goldin (Contact Author)

Stanford Law School ( email )

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States

Katherine Michelmore

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor ( email )

500 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

Syracuse University ( email )

900 S. Crouse Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2130
United States

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