President Joe Biden presented his Plan for American Families on Wednesday, an ambitious investment project that seeks to expand the tax credit of up to $ 3,600 per child until 2025
and guarantee at least four more years of free education for all the country's students
, among other measures.
The proposal includes about a trillion dollars in investment and 800,000 million dollars in tax credits for families that would be used for a decade.
The total amount of 1.8 trillion dollars would be paid in full in 15 years
through an increase in taxes on the richest and a legal strategy to avoid tax evasion, according to White House officials in a meeting with journalists on Tuesday for the night.
The president, Joe Biden, at a press conference at the White House on April 27, 2021.AP
The bill would join the $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan that Biden presented on March 31 and with which the president also hopes to add millions of better-paying jobs for families, although its approval in Congress remains uncertain.
It would also be a complement to the US $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan enacted in March by Biden, which has provided 161 million people with payments of up to $ 1,400 and has expanded vaccination eligibility for all those over the age of 16 years.
That plan is expected to help lift more than 5 million children out of poverty
this year through family tax credits of
$ 3,600 for each child under the age of 6 and $ 3,000 for children between the ages of 6 and 17
.
The Plan for American Families seeks to expand that tax benefit, which will be fully refundable for low- and middle-income families, until 2025. On average, it would save households about $ 13,000.
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"In addition to helping families make ends meet, tax credits for working families have been shown to improve children's academic and financial performance over time," authorities said in a statement.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will begin sending monthly payments for the new $ 3,000 per child tax credit in July, Commissioner Charles Rettig said April 14 during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. .
Previously,
up to $ 2,000 per child could be claimed
as tax relief, which begins to be lost when income reaches $ 200,000 for individuals and $ 400,000 for married couples.
It's in effect since a Republican-led tax reform in 2017 and is an annual tax credit.
But millions of very low-income households don't get the full credit because they don't pay enough taxes or don't earn enough income to apply.
Free preschool for all 3-4 year olds
The Plan for American Families, which was unveiled ahead of Biden's message to the nation on Wednesday afternoon, includes about
$ 200 billion to guarantee access to preschool for all children between the ages of 3 and 4
.
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The policy will be based on a partnership with state governments to cover the costs of existing programs at the local level, which will be expanded.
Initially, the federation is expected to cover up to 90% of the costs, although it is planned that the states will end up contributing up to 50% of the budget.
“Preschool and higher education is something that has received a lot of bipartisan support at the state level.
For example, in Tennessee the free
community college
was promoted
thanks to the leadership of the Republican governor and there are Republican governors who defend universal access to preschool education, "said a White House official on Tuesday in the call with journalists.
All employees participating in early childhood education programs would earn at least $ 15 an hour under the legislative proposal.
Children in a preschool classroom in Chicago;
on January 11, 2021.AP
Two years of paid universal higher education
The Biden Administration has proposed to cover the costs of attending community colleges for all students in the country who are interested in that higher education offer different from that of traditional universities.
Community colleges are institutes that offer an associate degree (
associates),
similar to a university degree (
bachelor)
but obtained in just two years, after which there is often the opportunity to continue studies at a university to obtain the degree correspondent.
As with preschool education, free community colleges would be funded through a partnership between the state and federal governments.
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Although the amount allocated by the federation would vary according to the cost of tuition in each state,
on average it would seek to cover 75% of the tuition with federal funds
, according to a White House official.
In the event that there are states that do not want to contribute to the funding of the free two years of community college, or universal preschool education, the federal government plans to partner with city councils and civil society organizations in order to cover the costs. of the programs.
"These investments will give the United States an edge and pave the way for the most educated generation in the country's history," added a Biden Administration official on Tuesday's call.
Childcare assistance
As part of an attempt to redefine the concept of infrastructure, the Biden Administration seeks to provide
$ 225 billion
to help families pay for childcare services.
Although most Republicans have opposed the idea of considering these types of services for working families as infrastructure, a concept traditionally associated with the construction of roads, bridges and ports, many Democrats advocate the paradigm shift.
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"Child care is infrastructure," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, said recently.
"Infrastructure is about getting people to work: roads, bridges, communications, and taking care of children is part of that," he added.
Fight child hunger with school lunches
The plan for families also plans to allocate millions of dollars in funding to make a program that will expand school lunches in the summer this year into a permanent fixture.
This not only seeks to prevent children from starving when schools close for the summer holidays, but also to help 34 million children to have better nutrition throughout the year.
Financing the initiative
The Biden Administration has proposed to fund the ambitious plan for families, which would cost taxpayers about a trillion dollars, doubling the income tax rate for those who file income statements of more than $ 1 million annually.
Officials have assured
that people who earn less than $ 400,000 annually would not see an increase in the taxes they must pay
.
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However, it would be sought that people who exceed that annual income pay a rate of 39.6% again, a tax that the previous Administration had reduced with the 2017 tax reform.
Additionally, it would seek to invest in the IRS to make tax collection more efficient.
Focusing primarily on fighting tax avoidance by corporations and the richest 1% of the population, according to a White House official.
Will Congress approve it?
As with the infrastructure package the president introduced last month, strong opposition from Republicans is expected to pass a measure that would require a tax increase and the repeal of the 2017 tax reform that former President Donald Trump approved.
Last week, Republican legislators presented an alternative infrastructure plan that focused on the construction of roads, railways, airports and that only represented a quarter of the cost of the Democratic plan.