In order to provide tax relief to low and moderate-income families, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) reintroduced legislation that would make the current adoption tax credit fully refundable.
While the American Taxpayer Relief Act made the adoption tax credit permanent, the law did not extend the tax credit refundability provisions that were applied in 2010 and 2011.
The Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act, which Blunt introduced with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), would again make the adoption tax credit fully refundable.
“Millions of children in our country and around the world are waiting for the safe, stable home and loving family that every child deserves,” Blunt said. “Making the adoption tax credit permanent was an important step to encourage more families to adopt. Restoring the refundability portion of the credit will build on that progress by making adoption more affordable for hardworking families.”
One-third of all adopted children live in household with an annual income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and nearly 46 percent of families that adopt through foster care are also at or below 200 percent of the poverty level, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“It is a common misconception that only wealthy families adopt,” Casey said. “We must do all we can do to ensure that all children are afforded the opportunity to grow up in a permanent, loving home. This legislation is a common sense approach to improve lower-income families’ ability to adopt and support children from foster care.”
Approximately 62 percent of families that applied for the adoption tax credit benefit from the refundability provision when it was last available in 2011, and 41 percent of families that benefited from refundability had adjusted gross incomes under $50,000.