Individuals, not just taxpayers, would be eligible for the “recovery” checks included in the bipartisan pandemic relief bill headed toward Senate passage, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
“Anyone with a Social Security number who is not dependent of anyone else should be eligible for a check under the income caps,” the Iowa Republican said.
An aide for the chairman said that nontaxpayers would qualify for the payment.
U.S. residents with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 ($150,000 married), are eligible for the full $1,200 ($2,400 married) rebate. The amount is completely phased out for single filers with incomes exceeding $99,000, $146,500 for head of household filers with one child, and $198,000 for joint filers with no children.
Using the word “anyone” instead of “taxpayer” means the payments will go to a broader range of people. A taxpayer is normally defined as a person who pays federal income tax, of whom there were 143.3 million in the United States in 2017, according to the latest data available. The number of individuals possessing a Social Security number more than doubles that figure to 320 million.
Earlier versions of Republican proposals included tax rebates only for those with some earnings and included smaller checks for those with less income.
The Grassley aide did not have a cost estimate for the provision.
Children who are claimed as dependents for tax purposes and have a Social Security number will reduce the number of people who qualifies for the checks. Yet the Census Bureau recently estimated there are roughly 73 million elderly people in the U.S., and more than 80% of them do not pay federal income taxes.
