Question about child tax credit

Can't answer your question as to the intent of Congress when it made the law, however as recently as 2002, the credit was only $600 instead of $1,000, so it wasn't quite as big a deal to lose it.

One way to look at it is, by age 17 it is not unreasonable (IMHO) for a child to start earning a thousand dollars or more from part-time employment, which most likely will not be taxed. Compare to the implication of the Child and Dependent Care credit that a 13-year-old doesn't need a babysitter after school to be home alone. But I do not pretend to have an inside track to the thinking of Congressional lawmakers...

It does seem unfortunate that just when the auto insurance bill for many parents of a driving-age child goes up by a thousand or more dollars per year, they lose a thousand dollar tax credit.

-Mark Bole

It was added in PL 105-34 (1997). You might find some discussion in the report or floor debate.

"Sybil" wrote

Congress wrote the law.

FYI: The age of majority (do they ever become adults?)varies among the states, some are at 18, others at a higher age, some at a lower age - for different adult acts.

You haven't turned 70 and a half yet.

Shhhhhhhhhh.................

Don't let the Congress critters hear ya.

And that may be some of the thought processes that went into the decision of an age cut-off.

Probably in the Congressional record (kind of like reading the minutes of what was said and done). Maybe in some of the footnotes to the law itself, they sometimes shed light on what the heck they were thinking.

Look at it this way, the year that ends when they are 17 is the LAST year that they will not be adults. At the end of next year they have been adults (for at least part of the year) so they don't qualify. There are a lot of rules that depend on your status on the last day of the year - marriage for one.