[HOT Air] The Romney plan is called the Family Security Act and would make benefits to adults with children both more generous and more easily available than they are currently. Right now there are various obstacles to getting some sugar from Uncle Sam if you’re a parent. For starters, you only qualify if you have income: The current child tax credit is refundable, meaning that you get zippo if you’re not earning anything. It’s also capped at just $2,000 per year. And of course, being a tax credit, it doesn’t arrive in your bank account until tax season.
Romney wants to chuck all of that and start over. No more tax credits. From now on, families get a monthly welfare check depending upon how old their children are. Each child under age six gets $350 per month (or $4,200 per year, higher than Biden’s plan) while each child between the ages of 6 and 17 gets $250 (or $3,000 per year), with a total monthly cap of $1,250 (i.e. $15,000 annually) per family. Importantly, there’s no income requirement anymore. Because it’s not a tax credit, there’s nothing to "refund." If you have a kid and your household is below the very high income cutoff of $400,000 you get a check — even if you’re out of work.
And in fact, Mitt’s plan does compare favorably to Biden’s plan in terms of generosity of benefits: |