A new bill introduced by Illinois lawmakers could potentially impact hundreds of thousands of households and lift more than 13,000 children out of poverty, according to a study of the bill’s impacts.
Activists and public officials gathered in Springfield on Wednesday to hail the introduction of Senate Bill 3329, which would make a $300 tax credit available for each child in a qualifying household.
"Fourteen other state legislatures have passed their own CTCs, and I believe that Illinois should be the fifteenth," State Rep. Marcus Evans, who cosponsored the bill, said in a recent editorial in The Chicago Defender.
According to the text of the bill, individual taxpayers would be eligible if their annual income was $50,000 or below, with that limit rising to $75,000 for married taxpayers filing joint returns.
According to a study published by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, the Senate bill would impact more than 800,000 households, reducing childhood poverty by 3.3% and lifting nearly 14,000 children out of poverty.
The average tax credit would amount to $560 per family, according to the study.
The study suggests that the bill could result in more than $630 million in economic stimulus.
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The estimate is the program would cost $470.5 million, but researchers tell WBEZ that the bill would likely offset those costs thanks to reductions in state spending on assistance for low-income families.
If passed, the bill would take immediate effect.
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The discussions over the bill come as a measure is considered by Congress to increase the maximum credit per child to $2,000 from $1,600 through 2025.
An estimated 500,000 children would be lifted out of poverty with the expansion, according to reports.
