Biden's innovation in Child Tax Credit (proof of concept UBI)

[greenman3610]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/opinion/columnists/child-tax-credit-basic-income.html


Among the big changes ushered in by the pandemic was a quiet revolution in American welfare policy.

OK, “quiet revolution” is my way of trying to jazz up a government program whose very name — the Child Tax Credit — I worry will have a lot of people swiping away to something juicier. But stick with me. For the six months it was in effect last year, President Biden’s expanded version of the Child Tax Credit provided parents of most American children with monthly checks of $250 or $300 per child; at tax-filing time this year, the credit gave people another lump sum of cash assistance. For millions of people the money was a blessing. Studies show it significantly reduced the nation’s shamefully high rate of childhood poverty.

The expanded Child Tax Credit also marked a bigger shift in American social policy: It was one of the first new programs in decades to provide Americans a government allowance in cash with virtually no strings attached.