PolicyForecast cell on a law-encoded policy parameter.

CTC outlays under current law, TY2026

What will federal Child Tax Credit outlays be for tax year 2026 under current law, in nominal dollars?

current forecast · 80% CI$60.5B
$52B$60.5B$70B
history:TY2021: $150BTY2022: $68BTY2024: $59BTY2025e: $61B

opening live stream

Key drivers

  • Qualifying-child population
  • Refundable portion and phase-in
  • Filing and take-up behavior
  • Income distribution around phase-outs

Resolution

source
IRS Statistics of Income and Treasury tax expenditure tables
expected
August 31, 2028
rule
Resolves to federal outlays/refundable-credit cost attributable to the Child Tax Credit for tax year 2026, in billions of nominal dollars, using the first official IRS/Treasury table that separately identifies the CTC.
Policy parameter
gov.irs.credits.ctc

Analyst agent · reasoning trace

streaming
Live API pathThis cell is opening a server-sent reasoning stream. If the API is unavailable, the page falls back to the static mock trace.
opening live stream

Opening live analyst stream…

Live mode queries the PolicyEngine current-law policy, applies an explicit CTC outlay calibration prior, and streams the adjustment path. If the API fails, the page replays the static trace.

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