New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit — Angela Rachidi, AEI (October 18, 2021)
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Summary
An AEIdeas blog post published by the American Enterprise Institute on October 18, 2021, written by senior fellow Angela Rachidi, reporting results of an AEI longitudinal survey on the monthly Child Tax Credit payments that started in July 2021. The post states that 62 percent of parents in the sample reported receiving the expanded payment and that lower-income households were more likely to spend it. It reports that more than 10 percent of respondents said the payments affected their employment, and that support for making the expansion permanent reached a majority only among self-described liberals. The author concludes that the payments are not well targeted and that most adults do not support making the expansion permanent. A survey note says the third wave, conducted through NORC at the University of Chicago, totaled 2,701 respondents.
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“New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit — Angela Rachidi, AEI (October 18, 2021).”
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6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
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New Survey Data Raises
Questions About the Expanded
Child Tax Credit
by Angela Rachidi
Senior Fellow and Rowe Scholar
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 1/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
October 18, 2021
Post | AEIdeas
Opportunity and Social Mobility
The American Enterprise Institute has been conducting a longitudinal
survey since July 2020 tracking changes to the employment, social safety
net, and family situations of a nationally representative group of working-
age adults throughout the pandemic. In September 2021, we asked
respondents questions about the new monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC)
payments that started in July 2021. Congress originally passed the new
payments as a temporary measure through the American Rescue Plan Act,
but they are considering making these permanent through the budget
reconciliation process.
Who Received the Expanded (CTC) and How Did They Use It?
Overall, 62 percent of parents in our sample (n=1,434) reported receiving
the expanded CTC payment, below the roughly 80 percent of households
with children who were eligible for the expanded payments. (The full
payment is available to married-couple households with children earning
under $150,000 and single parent households bringing in less than
$75,000). Less than half of these respondents said they mostly spent their
payments, although another 20 percent reported using it to pay down
debt. Parents in lower-income households were more likely to spend their
CTC payments, while higher-income households were more likely to save
the money.
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 2/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
We also asked about the importance of CTC payments in meeting day-to-
day expenses. Unsurprisingly, the payments were less important for
households with higher incomes than they were for lower-income
households. Two-thirds of households with annual incomes above
$100,000 said the payments were not at all or not very important.
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 3/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
Did the Expanded CTC Payments Affect Employment? We would not
necessarily expect to see households changing their employment
situations due to the new CTC payments in such a short time, mainly
because the payments are currently temporary. But the possibility of long-
term effects remains if the CTC expansion becomes permanent. Still, we
can foreshadow how families might change their employment in the long
run by asking about their short-term changes. Our survey results show
that some parents changed their employment because of the CTC
payments. Even though the vast majority of parents said the new
payments have not affected their employment (or the employment of
someone else in their household), more than 10 percent of respondents
reported that it did, with some reporting that it helped them work more
and others reporting it helped them work less.
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 4/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
Perceptions more broadly about the relationship between the CTC
payments and employment are also important to understand. We asked all
respondents (whether they were parents or not) how concerned or
unconcerned they are that the expanded CTC payments will keep people
from working. A slight majority expressed being somewhat or very
concerned, including a majority of self-identified moderates and a large
majority of conservatives.
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 5/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
How Many People Support Making the CTC Expansion Permanent?
Support for making the CTC expansion permanent was relatively weak
among working-age adults in our survey. The policy received majority
support only among self-described liberals or those identifying as
somewhat liberal. Even among moderate Democrats, only 52 percent
supported making the CTC expansion permanent. When interpreting the
chart below, it important to note that the majority of working-age adults
in our survey identified their political ideology as “moderate” — 51 percent
of the sample compared to 22 percent who identified as very or somewhat
liberal. Only 43 percent of the moderate group supported making the CTC
expansion permanent. This suggests that a permanent CTC expansion
lacks broad political appeal.
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 6/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
Summing It Up
Democrats are currently considering whether to extend the CTC
expansion for another few years with the ultimate hope of making the
expanded Child Tax Credit a fixture of US family policy. If the goal of the
expanded CTC payments is to help families cover childrearing expenses,
our survey results suggest they are not well targeted because a sizeable
share of families reported that they saved the payments or that the
payments were not that important in meeting their day-to-day expenses.
The results also show that most adults do not support making the CTC
expansion permanent, and many have concerns that the payments will
keep people from working.
Survey details: The American Enterprise Institute through NORC at the
University of Chicago has conducted three waves of the Employment and Safety
Net survey. The first wave was completed in July 2020, with follow-up surveys
in February/March 2021 and September 2021. The sample completing the third
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 7/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
wave totaled 2,701 respondents (from the original 3,508), including 1,489
parents from the baseline survey.
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Related
POST POST
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 8/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
AEIdeas AEIdeas
We Need Safety Net How Do We Make
Policies That Make Sense of the New
Work Pay Poverty Data for
2020?
If expanding the CTC was the only way to The Official Poverty Measure suggests an
reduce child poverty, policymakers might be increase in poverty from 2019 to 2020,
correct to accept reduced employment levels while poverty rates according to the
as a consequence. But other policies exist Supplemental Poverty Measure decreased.
that we know can reduce child poverty Government benefits distributed during the
without the negative employment effects. pandemic explain this apparent
inconsistency.
BY ANGELA RACHIDI ON 19 JUL 21 BY ANGELA RACHIDI ON 15 SEP 21
https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 9/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
POST
AEIdeas
New Poverty Data
Show the Safety Net
Warded off Hardship
Before the American
Rescue Plan Became
Law
Despite the significant improvements in
employment and poverty rates made by
early 2021, President Biden and Congress
still passed the American Rescue Plan Act,
adding billions more in spending to address
pandemic-related hardship.
BY ANGELA RACHIDI ON 5 OCT 21
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https://www.aei.org/opportunity-social-mobility/new-survey-data-raises-questions-about-the-expanded-child-tax-credit/ 10/11
6/28/26, 8:29 AM New Survey Data Raises Questions About the Expanded Child Tax Credit | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
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