Democrats’ rhetoric about their expansions of the child tax credit increasingly insists that these new benefits amount to “tax cuts” for middle-class families. As one article recently put it: “In speeches, internal memos, and campaign-style videos, President Joe Biden and the Democrats are increasingly promoting the payments as a ‘tax cut’ for the middle class, rather than a spending program that benefits only lower-income families.” But that characterization is sharply at odds with the proposal’s actual effects, which Democrats would extend for four years as part of their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package.

The expanded child tax credit would continue to ship out tens of millions of new monthly government checks, mostly to families who work so little they don’t owe federal income taxes in the first place. Only a small fraction would be devoted to actual tax relief.