I did, says void after 1 year... technically if I don't ever cash it I wouldn't hesitate to claim the full deduction anyways.
Child Tax Credit Checks
- Thread starter UNSTUCK
- Start date
RockChucker
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
I just opted out. I missed the cutoff and ended up getting the payment for this month. So dumb.
This isn't that hard to understand. I'll use Carl as an example because I know he has 2 kids. If you pocket these checks and assume everything is the same as the year before you would be on the hook for $400 extra. (200 per kid for a total of 400.)
If you decline the checks then you'll be up $3200 when taxes are calculated. (1600 per kid totalling 3200.) Again, the feds INCREASED the amount they are paying you just for having a kid under the age of 18 from $2000 a year to $3600 a year. If you have set your federal withholdings and haven't changed them year to year your 2021 taxes aren't going to be very different.
The idea of these monthly payments is to get kids money throughout the year which is expected to reduce the poverty rate like over 50% nationwide.
This was funded for 1 year so unless congress extends it it'll be a one year deal. We'll see what happens in a few months.
If you decline the checks then you'll be up $3200 when taxes are calculated. (1600 per kid totalling 3200.) Again, the feds INCREASED the amount they are paying you just for having a kid under the age of 18 from $2000 a year to $3600 a year. If you have set your federal withholdings and haven't changed them year to year your 2021 taxes aren't going to be very different.
The idea of these monthly payments is to get kids money throughout the year which is expected to reduce the poverty rate like over 50% nationwide.
This was funded for 1 year so unless congress extends it it'll be a one year deal. We'll see what happens in a few months.
This is the biggest part of the whole idea that doesn't work in my mind. Like Stratton said, cutting one end of a blanket off and sewing it to the other doesn't make a bigger blanket.
- Location
- Stinkwater
The raised CTC amount may or may not raise families out of poverty. I don't know enough about nuthin' to say one way or the other but I suspect that the part they're not saying is that it's actually an attempt to get people to have more kids.
But yeah. I don't buy that WHEN that tax credit hits is gonna have anything to do with poverty rates. This is a trial balloon to see how people feel about monthly checks from the government, and if nobody kicks then they're gonna find other ways to take your money up front and give some of it back later in the form of other social programs, and we're gonna end up with universal basic income.
But yeah. I don't buy that WHEN that tax credit hits is gonna have anything to do with poverty rates. This is a trial balloon to see how people feel about monthly checks from the government, and if nobody kicks then they're gonna find other ways to take your money up front and give some of it back later in the form of other social programs, and we're gonna end up with universal basic income.
For people who use their $8,000 return to buy a new flatscreen, nintendo, etc, they will now get that money spread out monthly, in hopes that it buys groceries and such instead. The blanket isn't bigger.. but if the person is too dumb to cover themselves with a short blanket, resewing might be helpful.
UNSTUCK
But stuck more often.
Dumb Americans will still blow the monthly check just like they will the April return. Maybe the dumb government should send out gift cards each month instead of money. This month a card that can only be used to buy gas. Next month a card that can only be used to buy groceries. Maybe a check written out to Rocky Mountain power on our behalf.
Maybe the dumb government should just tax us less and then not have programs like ctc or deductions. Let the wise continue to prosper and the dumb will weed themselves out, or man up.
Maybe the dumb government should just tax us less and then not have programs like ctc or deductions. Let the wise continue to prosper and the dumb will weed themselves out, or man up.
There are many Americans who don't need to file a tax return. You don't get the "old" tax credit if you don't file a return. The "new" child tax credit is paid out to everyone with kids including those who don't need to file a return. Hence getting money to many of the poorest and raising the poverty rate.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong but that is my understanding of how it is going to lower the poverty rate by so much.
I don't know all of you, or even many of you but I feel safe in assuming that because there is so many of you saying you'll opt out of the monthly payments or simply not cash the checks you aren't in that group of people under the poverty line. So this program or method of getting money into kids parents bank accounts isn't needed, by you.
Maybe, just maybe, there will be a few million households that this will help get into more stable housing, or better fed, or be able to cut back on their third or fourth jobs and be able to spend that time with their kids at home and provide a more positive influence. Maybe I'm just dreaming but for them I think it's probably worth giving it a try
I'm not saying it's right or wrong but that is my understanding of how it is going to lower the poverty rate by so much.
I don't know all of you, or even many of you but I feel safe in assuming that because there is so many of you saying you'll opt out of the monthly payments or simply not cash the checks you aren't in that group of people under the poverty line. So this program or method of getting money into kids parents bank accounts isn't needed, by you.
Maybe, just maybe, there will be a few million households that this will help get into more stable housing, or better fed, or be able to cut back on their third or fourth jobs and be able to spend that time with their kids at home and provide a more positive influence. Maybe I'm just dreaming but for them I think it's probably worth giving it a try
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My VERY poor SIL, who is a single mother, living with another SIL and her boyfriend, used her money to help buy a $900 pet bird.
Here other payments went to weed and tattoos. She didn't need to buy food, because she lives very well on food stamps.
I have spent a lot of time among 'poor' people. It is my belief that poor is a choice. YMMV.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
As seen last week in Denali national park.
(Not a perfect analogy but...)
Stimulus checks, unitized child credits, over/ under tax options, I don't buy it.
Printing money makes inflation.
How about laissez faire government, and flat tax rate.
(Not a perfect analogy but...)
Stimulus checks, unitized child credits, over/ under tax options, I don't buy it.
Printing money makes inflation.
How about laissez faire government, and flat tax rate.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Exactly. I'm cashing the checks, putting them in an auto investment account to buy mutual funds like my other tax money does. I'll collect interest on it and pay my pound (or ten pounds) of flesh on April 15, not a day earlier.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
I understand your sentiment, but if you don't have to file a tax return, your kids are in a bad way and no "help" from the government short of cutting you off is going to fix that, it's just enabling the free money addicts.
Tonkaman and many others can't find people to work for $20 an hour with zero skills. Being poor is a choice for all but a select few with actual disabilities.
Let's cut the Fed fat and make it run on tarrifs only.
If I had kids, this would be my strategy as well.
I.M.O., the child tax credit checks are going to do down like a lead balloon in spring of 2022, when a whole lot of folks are surprised by their (lack of) tax return $$. Too many people unfortunately do not understand how to calculate their tax liability. I can almost hear the cries of "the government really screwed me on taxes this year" already...
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
I heard this when they raised the standard deduction to 24k married filing jointly. Many people I talked to said Trump took away the deduction for mortgage interest. 4th grade math is hard for some people.
Pike2350
Registered User
- Location
- Salt Lake City
Honestly this is a problem with almost ANYTHING these days. People look at one thing without critical thinking. I stated the same thing in the "What Now Thread"
My wife gets very upset with me when we talk because she will claim I will argue anything. In reality I play devil's advocate and don't pick a side I do it for. It has made her think much more indepth about things and questioned things and gain a healthy dose of cynicism about things. She used to believe that any article she read was now gospel. Now she sees them for what they are. information that can be twisted, but also used to grow her understanding of things.
I understand Nate's point and don't entirely disagree with it. The one part he missed is that those who do not file taxes do not get the child tax credit. This tax credit is specifically based on tax filings, and you only get the normal full tax credit if you file taxes anyway (even if you don't owe and get the credit back) I will say, that since this credit is not likely to go away at all (let's be real here) Then I think this way of doing administering it is likely the best way to actually help kids and families that struggle. It reminds me of a lottery winner. Give someone a larger, lump sum and they are likely to burn through it faster then normal because they tend to think in terms of "Now I can buy XX that I've wanted" They are not good about saving...and this is not a conservative vs. liberal thing. People today, regardless of political leaning are in debt and basically terrible with money. The monthly check may get spent on frivolous things in the beginning, but in the long run it would likely help people buy food and other necessities in an ongoing manner...helping them to keep their heads above water just slightly.
Now, I'm a big fan of a flat tax and would prefer to see that over any other form...however, I know that will NEVER happen....so being pragmatic, I think this option, as long as it is merely an upfront payment of the same CDC that would already be given...then it's a 'pay now or pay later' thing. Many people in Utah will see quite the windfall from this. Just imagine all the families getting an extra $2k/month now.
ID Bronco
Registered User
- Location
- Idaho Falls, ID
It's buying votes, one month at a time. 2022