‘Torres authorized to pay child tax credit monthly’

Under the American Rescue Plan, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is authorized to make monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit, instead of an annual lump-sum payment, according to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) over the weekend.

In his digital newsletter e-kilili, Sablan said the monthly payments—$250 or $300, depending on the age of the child—are expected to make it easier for families to have money available to meet the need for food, clothing, and other necessities for their children.

He thanked the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee for including in the Rescue Plan his request that the CNMI governor be given such authority.

The delegate said Section 9611 of the Rescue Plan provides Torres with $300,000 to cover the administrative costs, if he decided to make the monthly payments.

He said his congressional office also negotiated with Ways and Means to give the CNMI access to a $75- million Temporary Aid for Needy Families Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund in Section 9201 of the American Rescue Plan.

Sablan said the Marianas does not participate in TANF, but that he introduced legislation, H.R. 1773, to make the eligibility permanent.

The delegate said he also thanked last week his colleagues from the House Ways and Means Committee for including federal payment of the Earned Income Tax Credit for the Marianas in Section 9625 of the American Rescue Plan—and make it permanent.

Sablan said the EITC is worth an estimated $25 million for lower-income working families in the CNMI, “although they will only receive this assistance when the Commonwealth Legislature repeals the 100% local tax now imposed on any refundable credit.”

Sablan began working on federal funding for the EITC by introducing H.R. 4309 in 2015 and got the provision added to the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act last year.

Last March 19, members of the CNMI House of Representatives unanimously voted to pass on first and final reading a bill that Rep. Christina Marie E. Sablan (D-Saipan) introduced that will repeal a law in order to make working families in the CNMI eligible for the EITC. House Bill 22-19 now goes to the Senate for action. Co-sponsored by several other lawmakers, Sablan’s H. B. 22-19 will restore the EITC for low-and moderate-income working families in the CNMI.

EITC is a refundable tax credit in the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Code that helps qualified low- to moderate-income working families and taxpayers get a tax break by allowing them to use the credit to reduce the taxes they owe, and in some cases, increase their tax refunds.