I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 821 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the child credit 

for children under the age of 6, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2017 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. NEAL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. 

LEVIN, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BEN

RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, 

Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SOTO, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. 

ESTY, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. 

KENNEDY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. BRENDAN F. 

BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. HOYER, Ms. ESHOO, and Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase 

the child credit for children under the age of 6, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Tax Credit Im5 provement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) According to the Supplemental Poverty 

4 Measure of the Bureau of the Census, the Child tax 

5 credit and earned income tax credit lift more chil6 dren out of poverty than any other Federal policy. 

7 According to research published by the Century 

8 Foundation, the child tax credit alone now lifts near9 ly 1 in 8 children who would otherwise be poor out 

10 of poverty. 

11 (2) Despite the success of the child tax credit, 

12 economists have found that families with young chil13 dren often receive the smallest child tax credits be14 cause they do not yet have enough income to receive 

15 the full benefit of the credit. 

16 (3) Pediatricians and other child development 

17 experts have long talked about the critical impor18 tance of the earliest years of life. 

19 (4) Economists have found similar effects of the 

20 importance of income in the earliest years with re21 turns to school achievement. 

22 (5) Young children, including babies and tod23 dlers, are among the poorest people in the country 

24 by age. 

25 (6) Economists have found that large fluctua26 tions in a family’s income can be detrimental to the 


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1 development of young children. Research on scarcity 

2 has found it is hard for parents to focus on children 

3 if they are worrying about having sufficient income 

4 to meet their family’s needs. 

5 (7) Indexing the value of the child tax credit 

6 would end the slow erosion of the child tax credit 

7 due to inflation. 

8 SEC. 3. YOUNG CHILD TAX CREDIT. 

9 (a) SPECIAL RULE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.—Section 

10 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 

11 adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(h) YOUNG CHILD TAX CREDIT.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a young 

14 qualifying child, subsection (a) shall be applied for 

15 the taxable year (after the application of subsection 

16 (i)) by substituting ‘$3,600’ for ‘$1,000’. 

17 ‘‘(2) YOUNG QUALIFYING CHILD.—For pur18 poses of paragraph (1), the term ‘young qualifying 

19 child’ means a qualifying child who has not attained 

20 age 6 as of the close of such taxable year. 

21 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION BASED ON ADJUSTED GROSS

22 INCOME.—For purposes of applying subsection (b) 

23 with respect to a young qualifying child, paragraph 

24 (1) of subsection (b) shall be applied by substituting 

25 ‘$180’ for ‘$50’. 


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1 ‘‘(4) CREDIT REFUNDABLE.—The aggregate 

2 credits allowed to a taxpayer under subpart C shall 

3 be increased by the credit which would be allowed 

4 under this section without regard to this subsection, 

5 subsection (d), and the limitation under section 

6 26(a). The amount of the credit allowed under this 

7 subsection shall not be treated as a credit allowed 

8 under this subpart and shall reduce the amount of 

9 credit otherwise allowable under subsection (a) with10 out regard to section 26(a). 

11 ‘‘(5) RECONCILIATION OF CREDIT AND AD12 VANCE CREDIT.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the 

14 credit allowed under subsection (a) by reason of 

15 paragraph (1) for any taxable year shall be re16 duced (but not below zero) by the aggregate 

17 amount of any advance payments of such credit 

18 under section 7527A for such taxable year. 

19 ‘‘(B) EXCESS ADVANCE PAYMENTS.—If the 

20 aggregate amount of advance payments under 

21 section 7527A for the taxable year exceeds the 

22 amount of the credit allowed under subsection 

23 (a) by reason of paragraph (1) for such taxable 

24 year (determined without regard to subpara25 graph (A)), the tax imposed by this chapter for 


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1 such taxable year shall be increased by the 

2 amount of such excess.’’. 

3 (b) ADVANCE PAYMENT OF CREDIT.—Chapter 77 of 

4 such Code is amended by inserting after section 7527 the 

5 following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 7527A. ADVANCE PAYMENT OF YOUNG CHILD TAX 

7 CREDIT. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable and not 

9 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

10 section, the Secretary shall establish a program for mak11 ing advance payments of the credit allowed under section 

12 24 by reason of subsection (h) thereof on a monthly basis, 

13 or as frequently as the Secretary determines to be admin14 istratively feasible, to taxpayers allowed such credit (deter15 mined without regard to section 24(h)(5)(A)). 

16 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may make pay17 ments under subsection (a) only to the extent that the 

18 total amount of such payments made to any taxpayer dur19 ing the taxable year does not exceed the amount deter20 mined under section 24(h) with respect to such taxpayer 

21 (determined without regard to subsections (b) and (f) of 

22 such section). Such program shall make reasonable efforts 

23 to apply the limitation of section 24(b) with respect to 

24 payments made under such program.’’. 

25 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of such Code is 

2 amended by inserting ‘‘24(h),’’ after ‘‘24(d),’’. 

3 (2) Section 6402(m) of such Code is amended 

4 by inserting ‘‘or (h)’’ after ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 

5 (3) The table of sections for chapter 77 of such 

6 Code is amended by inserting after the item relating 

7 to section 7527 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 7527A. Advance payment of young child tax credit.’’. 

8 (4) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 

9 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘24(h),’’ be10 fore ‘‘25A,’’. 

11 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning 

14 after December 31, 2016. 

15 (2) ADVANCE PAYMENT PROGRAM.—The Sec16 retary of the Treasury, or his designee, shall estab17 lish the program described in section 7527A of the 

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by this 

19 section) not later than such date. 

20 SEC. 4. MODIFICATIONS OF THE CHILD TAX CREDIT. 

21 (a) REFUNDABLE PORTION.—Clause (i) of section 

22 24(d)(1)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

23 amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(i) 45 percent of the taxpayer’s 

25 earned income (within the meaning of secVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Feb 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H821.IH H821

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1 tion 32) which is taken into account in 

2 computing taxable income for the taxable 

3 year, or’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 subsection (a) shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

6 December 31, 2016. 

7 SEC. 5. ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 24 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986, as amended by sections 3 and 4, is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following new sub11 section: 

12 ‘‘(i) INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) CREDIT AMOUNT GENERALLY.—In the 

14 case of any taxable year beginning in a calendar 

15 year after 2016, the $1,000 amount contained in 

16 subsection (a) shall be increased by an amount equal 

17 to— 

18 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

19 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter20 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

21 year in which the taxable year begins, deter22 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2010’ for 

23 ‘calendar year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) 

24 thereof. 


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1 ‘‘(2) YOUNG CHILD CREDIT AMOUNT.—In the 

2 case of any taxable year beginning in a calendar 

3 year after 2017, the $3,600 amount contained in 

4 subsection (h)(1) shall be increased by an amount 

5 equal to— 

6 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

7 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter8 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

9 year in which the taxable year begins, deter10 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2016’ for 

11 ‘calendar year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) 

12 thereof. 

13 ‘‘(3) ROUNDING.—Any increase determined 

14 under paragraph (1) or (2) shall be rounded to the 

15 nearest multiple of $50.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 subsection (a) shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

18 December 31, 2016. 

Æ 


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