Money in the bank: Child tax credit dollars head to parents

The U.S. government is starting to deposit child tax credit money into the accounts of more than 35 million families

WASHINGTON -- The child tax credit had always been an empty gesture to millions of parents like Tamika Daniel. That changes Thursday when the first payment of $1,000 hits Daniel’s bank account — and dollars start flowing to the pockets of more than 35 million families around the country. Daniel, a 35-year-old mother of four, didn’t even know the tax credit existed until President Joe Biden expanded it for one year as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that passed in March. Previously, only people who earned enough money to owe income taxes could qualify for the credit. Daniel went nearly a decade without a job because her oldest son is autistic and needed her. So she got by on Social Security payments. And she had to live at Fairfield Courts, a public housing project that dead-ends at Interstate 64 as the highway cuts through the Virginia capital of Richmond. But the extra $1,000 a month for the next year could be a life-changer for Daniel, who now works as a community organizer for a Richmond nonprofit. It will help provide a security deposit on a new apartment.