$1,400 Stimulus Checks Were Just the Beginning. More Money Is Coming.
The $1,400 stimulus checks that were mandated by the American Rescue Plan are going out to taxpayers currently, with the most recent round last week including nearly 2 million checks. And more help is on the way.
The $1,400 stimulus checks that were mandated by the American Rescue Plan are going out to taxpayers currently, with the most recent round last week including nearly 2 million checks.
Once that check arrives, it doesn’t appear that the government has any immediate plans for another round of stimulus checks. The two big legislative packages that President Biden is expected to talk up in his address to Congress Wednesday night, the American Jobs Plan and the American Rescue Plan, do not include the conference of direct payments to everyone, as was the case with the American Rescue Plan and a pair of laws that passed in 2020.
However, there are still some benefits heading out the door to Americans this year. CNET recently listed the many chances for Americans to receive money from the government before the end of 2021.
First, there are COBRA benefits, which the American Rescue plan mandated must be paid by the government through September 30 to those who have been laid off from their jobs. The benefits do not apply to those who left work voluntarily, or who are eligible for Medicare.
There’s also the stimulus check recovery rebate credit. This is for people who never received their stimulus checks in 2020, and who are able to claim that money on their tax returns for this year.
Another big payment coming later this year is the expanded child tax credit, which the American Rescue Plan mandated be conferred as direct payments to those who have children. Biden has proposed expanding these payments until 2025, while another proposal, from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, makes those payments permanent.
There’s also the earned income tax credit. Thanks to the stimulus bill that passed last December, per CNET, “you can use your 2019 or 2020 amount of earned income to calculate your tax credit for 2020.”
And some families are eligible for the child care credit, for children under 13. The government is also offering a savers credit, for some of those who have made contributions to an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
And the government has also offered a credit for older adults or those with disabilities.
“Those age 65 and over or who are retired on permanent and total disability who received taxable disability income for the year, and fall under a certain income limit, may be eligible for this tax credit ranging from $3,750 to $7,500,” CNET said.
There will likely be other benefits available soon, if Biden’s Families Plan and Jobs Plan proposals, or perhaps versions of them that survive Congressional negotiations, are ultimately signed into law.
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.