Tax Law: A New Break for Taxpayers With Kids
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
With your money briefing, I'm J.R. Whalen. If you've got kids and you pay taxes, you're in for some good news. We'll explain in a moment. First, these money and markets headlines you should know. Rising tensions with some of the U.S. 's largest trade partners did little to put a dent in U.S. factory output in August, which expanded at the strongest pace in about 15 years. Sales of factory-made products or new orders, output and employment all grew at a faster pace in August. But despite the headline growth in factory activity, there were some signs that recent trade actions might be beginning to take a toll.
What tax change gives families a new $2,000-per-child credit?
An underlying gauge of new export orders for primary metals and transportation equipment, as well as machinery, declined in August, with machinery last declining at the beginning of 2017. And an article in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says just over half of Americans born in the 1980s have ended up with better jobs than their parents. The paper adds to a growing body of research on the dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S. In 2016, a Stanford University economist found that the ratio of Americans who earn more than their parents fell to 50 percent for children born in the 1980s. That's down from 90% for children born in the 1940s. Fading upward mobility may reflect slower economic growth in recent decades and less structural change in the U.S.
economy, which rapidly industrialized in the 20th century, then transitioned to services. In effect, this meant that more white-collar jobs were available to Americans born in the 1940s than to the largely blue-collar generation that preceded them.
We're joined by Wall Street Journal tax reporter Laura Saunders. Good news for American families with kids. Under the new tax law, millions of families will see a $2,000 per child break on their taxes. But Laura, there's a catch.
Who qualifies for the $2,000 child tax credit and what income limits apply?
There's always a catch, but the benefit here is substantial.
It's $2,000 tax credit per child, and that's a $2,000 subtraction from your taxes. It's not like a deduction, which is subtraction from your income. So if you have three children, you pay $6,000 less tax. It is taking a lot of people from, you know, who might have lost money on the tax overhaul and giving them a tax refund, particularly for affluent families, because their benefits for children in the past usually phased out. They got very little or none at all. This is for people up to $400,000 of income, $2,000 per child.
And you've heard from readers who said they're in line for a major swing in their tax setup.
How is the new credit different from a deduction or the old personal exemption?
One of the commenters on my story today said he would have owed a lot of tax, but now he's getting a substantial refund because of his children.
And there's a catch here in terms of the age of the child.
this benefit, which is pretty great, goes away the year the child turns 17. So they only get it through age 16. So that just about the time your children are getting to be pretty expensive, like they're starting to drive and you have to have insurance and they're headed for college is exactly when the $2,000 credit ends. And in its place, there's a $500 tax credit, but that's a lot smaller, and that benefit may not be as good as what was in the law last year for many people.
Okay. And lower earners are in line for some new benefits as well.
Yes.
What are the age limits and the ‘catch’ that reduces benefits for teens?
For people who can't get a full benefit of the credit because they don't pay taxes, if they have earned income, up to $1,400 of this is refundable. So there's kind of something all the way up and down the line.
And the change in the law opens up the child credit benefit to many more families and has something to do with the personal exemption. You explained that in your story.
Yes. The tax overhaul took away the personal exemption. It was something that every member of every family got. It was about $4,000, but it was a deduction. And it was limited in many ways, particularly for people earning more than about $100,000 a year. And so, say, many Wall Street Journal readers would not have gotten the benefit of this exemption because it's limited in so many ways, and the old child tax credit phased out.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:38
2
What tax change gives families a new $2,000-per-child credit?
0:38–1:59
3
Who qualifies for the $2,000 child tax credit and what income limits apply?
1:59–2:45
4
How is the new credit different from a deduction or the old personal exemption?
2:45–3:32
5
What are the age limits and the ‘catch’ that reduces benefits for teens?
3:32–4:19
6
How does the law affect lower‑income families—are portions of the credit refundable?
4:19–5:06
7
Who loses out under the repeal of the personal exemption and how does the $500 credit work?
5:06–5:21
Speakers
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