Jenkins introduces bill to reform child tax credit

Legislation introduced by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) on Tuesday would reform the child tax credit and make it available to more families.

The Child Tax Credit Improvement Act would tie the child tax credit to inflation and make adjustments to eliminate the “marriage penalty” under current tax law.

“There is no doubt costs for raising children are increasing every year,” Jenkins said. “The current law for child tax credits is outdated and fails to recognize how difficult it can be to have a family. My legislation indexes the credit and the limitations to inflation to help parents keep more of their hard earned money to use for the mounting expenses of parenting.”

Under the bill, the income phaseout for joint filers would be increased from $110,000 to $150,000 to strike down the marriage penalty. The measure would also index both the $1,000 credit and the income phaseout for inflation.

“Increasing the phase-out level is a family friendly change that greatly simplifies the tax code for middle class parents currently forced to perform a complicated computation and increases fairness across the code,” Jenkins said. “This legislation also removes the marriage penalty embedded in the current tax credit and ensures those who choose to get married before they have kids do not have to pay more than those who do not.”

The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to markup the bill this week.