Sponsor
Kristen McDonald Rivet
Representative · D-MI
Representative · D-MI
The bill provides meaningful, targeted monthly and annual tax-credit increases to improve income and budgeting for low-income families with young children, at the cost of higher federal spending and added IRS administrative and filing complexity.
Low-income parents with children under age 4 receive larger and more gradually phased-out EITC benefits, increasing annual household income and reducing cliff effects so more families keep or receive a larger credit as earnings rise modestly.
Eligible families can elect to receive the incremental refund as equal monthly payments, improving cash flow, budgeting, and predictable monthly support for households with young children.
Increasing refundable EITC amounts will raise federal outlays, which could widen the budget deficit or require spending offsets or tax increases elsewhere.
Offering a monthly payment option will require IRS operational changes and could delay access to lump-sum refunds for taxpayers who prefer immediate payment.
Age-based and per-child percentage adjustments add complexity to filing and enforcement, increasing IRS administrative burden and potentially confusing taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Raises EITC rates and phaseout for parents of children under 4 and lets taxpayers elect to receive the incremental increase as equal monthly payments.
Official title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the amount of the earned income tax credit for parents of young children.
Introduced April 15, 2026 by Kristen McDonald Rivet · Last progress April 15, 2026
Increases the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for taxpayers with children under age 4 by raising the credit percentages and the phaseout percentage for those young-child EITC amounts. It also allows taxpayers to elect to receive the increased portion of the credit as equal monthly payments for the remainder of the taxable year. The change applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. The bill modifies the Internal Revenue Code to target additional refundable tax help to working parents of very young children and gives an option to smooth that additional refund into monthly cash flow during the tax year.