Child Tax Credits have expired, what’s next?

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - The American Recovery Act’s child tax credit expansion kept three million kids out of poverty in its first month alone. However, it expired in December.

Beginning July 2021, eligible parents were given funds to help them pay the bills as we make our way through unprecedented times with the COVID-19 crisis.

President Biden’s Build Back Better bill would have extended the expansion through 2022, but Congress didn’t act to save it. Barring fast legislative intervention, that means the child tax credit expansion is officially over.

Tim Kulhanek, president of advisory services for Stonebridge Insurance and Wealth Management, said people should be concerned.

”I think people should care because it’s obviously going to impact folks,” he said. “For a lot of people out there, an extra $300, especially per kid, goes a long ways to ... putting food on the table and paying for all of the different costs that come with ... being able to travel around in an inflationary economy ... where you’ve got gas prices that are, you know, 46% higher than they were a year ago and your heating bills gone up.”

Now that the tax expansion has come to an end, Kulhanek recommended people make sure to rely on their own finances, create a spending budget and avoid raking up any credit card debt.

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