(The Center Square) – About $250 billion of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package that U.S. senators agreed to early Wednesday would go to American families in the form of direct payments.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the package Wednesday afternoon before it moves to the House, where its fate is uncertain. President Donald Trump says he supports the stimulus measures.
An analysis of the bill by the Tax Policy Center shows that about two-thirds of the money for Americans would go to low- and middle-income housholds.
The legislation would provide payments of $1,200 to each adult and $500 to each child under age 17 depending on household’s 2019 income.
“Under Sunday’s version, low- and middle-income households would receive about 68 percent of the payments,” Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, said. “Because of the income-based phase-outs, the top 20 percent of households (those with incomes of $163,000 or more) would get only about 11 percent of the benefits , and the top 1 percent would get none.”
Gleckman says the payments start to phase out for individuals with income of $75,000, or income of $150,000 for couples filing jointly and $112,500 for single parents.
“TPC found that the lowest-income households (those with incomes of about $25,000 or less) would receive an average payment of $1,480 and their after-tax income would increase by nearly 11 percent,” Gleckman wrote. “Middle-income households (those making between about $51,000 and $91,000) would get a payment of about $1,810, on average, or about 3 percent of their after-tax income.”
The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.
Dan McCaleb is the executive editor of The Center Square. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dan at [email protected].
