Latest news with #ChildandDependentCareTaxCredit
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Readers on the need for child-care support and a close call
Working families with young children in Oklahoma need support finding and affording child care. Updating child care tax credits like the ones included in the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act sponsored by Sens. Katie Britt, of Alabama, and Tim Kaine, of Virginia, would help. In his role on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. James Lankford, of Oklahoma, can help prioritize the needs of working families by including these provisions in the upcoming tax package. Expanding tax credits like the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) would put more money in parents' pockets for child care. This tax credit helps children thrive while recognizing child care as a necessary expense that helps parents go to work. However, it hasn't been updated in more than 20 years, so it hasn't kept pace with what child care actually costs. Currently, the average credit families receive is $587. Under the Britt-Kaine proposal, a parent with one child paying $12K for child care ($1K per child per month) would receive a credit of $1,750. Parents with two children would receive even more. Families with young children can't push pause on their child care needs and deal with it a few years down the road — kids don't work like that! Protecting and expanding the CDCTC is a pro-family and pro-work solution that benefits everyone. ― Elissa Kuykendall Want the latest Viewpoints? Sign up for the Public Square newsletter. I've enjoyed our articles about the 1995 bombing, and I have a small anecdotal event that happened on that dreadful day. I was an officer at a bank in El Reno, American Heritage Bank, and the morning of the bombing I had an 8 a.m. meeting at the state Capitol. The day before, one of our officers, Robert Hadley, who had reached retirement age, came in to let me know he had an appointment the next morning at the Social Security office at the Murrah Building to set up his Social Security benefits. Because of my meeting at the state Capitol, I asked Robert if he could move his meeting time at the Social Security office. Minutes later he told me he was able to get a 2 p.m. appointment, and that he and his wife and a 10-year-old grandson would make that work. We know what happened that morning and I was walking in the parking lot when the bomb went off. I felt the explosion like everyone else did. Once we realized how narrowly Bob, his wife and grandson had avoided being in that office, he retired that week knowing how precious life is. Thank you for sharing the moment in history that we all wish had never happened. ― Douglas Tippens, El Reno More: Oklahoma City bombing, 30 years later: Our city's stories of strength, healing and hope Oklahoma's rural counties are facing a crisis. With limited behavioral health services and high rates of substance use and incarceration, it's time we invest in real, community-driven solutions. That's why I'm writing in support of Senate Bill 251. This letter is part of a statewide advocacy project I've been working on with my classmates at the University of Oklahoma's School of Social Work. Over the past few months, our team has written policy briefs, hosted conversations, and even met with professionals and policymakers to advocate for this bill. SB 251 stood out to us because it offers a practical, much-needed path toward justice and healing across Oklahoma. The bill creates the County Community Safety Investment Fund and ensures every county — no matter how small — receives a minimum share of funding to build or strengthen local programs. These services include crisis response teams, recovery support, and jail diversion programs. These kinds of services are critical. People living in rural Oklahoma are 57% more likely to struggle with meth or opioid use, and nearly one in three rural women report experiencing intimate partner violence, according to the Oklahoma Council for Justice 251 isn't just smart policy — it's the kind of investment that could make our communities safer, healthier and more hopeful. I truly hope our lawmakers will move it forward this session. — Victoria Mendez, OU-Tulsa School of Social Work This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How a family narrowly missed the OKC bombing | Letters
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Shaheen embraces two bills to boost support for child care
Mar. 5—U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., has signed onto bipartisan legislation aimed at making child care more affordable and accessible by increasing federal tax credits for employers and individuals and competitive grants to states that offer pay increases for childcare workers. Shaheen said the Child Care Workforce and the Child Care Availability and Affordability acts would help improve one of the top issues facing working families in New Hampshire. "I hear time and again from parents in New Hampshire who are desperate for reliable, affordable child care options, but for too many families, their options are limited at best and nonexistent at worst," Shaheen said. Sens. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, and Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, have joined Shaheen, who is the lead sponsor of both bills. "For an issue that impacts so many families in every corner of every state, it's time we find a bipartisan path forward, which is why I'm proud to join my colleagues on this common sense, bipartisan proposal to lower child care costs, increase wages for the workforce and ensure providers can keep their doors open," Shaheen said. The bill would expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to a maximum of $2,500 for families with one child and $4,000 for families with two or more children. This would allow parents to deduct 50% of their child care expenses from taxes up from the current 35%. It would increase the maximum allowable expenses for families from $3,000 to $5,000 for one child and from $6,000 to $8,000 for two or more children. The tax credit for employers would increase the maximum credit of support to employee child care from $150,000 to $500,000 a year. Fifty percent of employer expenses could be deducted, up from 25% under current law. The competitive grants for states to increase child care worker pay could reduce staff turnover, Shaheen said. Model programs exist in Virginia, Nebraska, Maine and the District of Columbia. A large coalition of groups supports these measures, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Save the Children, the National Association of Women Business Owners and the American Hotel and Lodging Association. klandrigan@
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. John Curtis joins proposal to encourage businesses to make child care more affordable
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to make child care more affordable for parents by providing tax credits for businesses that provide options for their employees. The Child Care Availability and Affordability Act, being introduced in the Senate this week, seeks to update current tax provisions to make child care more affordable while also creating a program to boost the number of child care workers. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, has signed on to the bill as a cosponsor, calling the proposal a 'practical, commonsense solution' to support working families. 'It's becoming increasingly difficult to raise a family, due in large part to the high cost of child care. Quite frankly, parents deserve better,' Curtis said in a statement. 'By updating tax credits that help cover child care costs and supporting businesses that provide caregiving benefits, our bill puts money back into the pockets of hardworking parents.' The bill is being led by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tim Kaine, D-Va. The bill would bolster the Employer-Provided Child Care Tax Credit to further encourage businesses to provide child care to their employees, particularly small businesses. The proposal would increase the maximum credit from $150,000 to $500,000 and increase the percentage of covered expenses from 25% to 50%. Those incentives would be larger for small businesses by increasing maximum credit to $600,000 and would allow small businesses to enter into joint applications to pool resources. The legislation would expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to make it partially refundable, allowing lower-income families with out-of-pocket child care expenses to benefit from the credit for the first time, according to the legislation. In doing so, the tax credit would expand maximum benefits to $2,500 for families with one child and up to $4,000 for families with multiple children. The expansion would be the first update to the tax credit program in more than two decades, during which child care costs have risen by more than 200%, according to lawmakers. The proposal would also strengthen the Dependent Care Assistance Program to allow families to deduct up to $7,500 more in expenses. The DCAP would then be decoupled from the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to benefit middle-income families with high child care costs but do not have access to the latter due to income restrictions. 'This commonsense proposal is about more than just addressing our child care crisis — it is a direct investment in the hardworking families and local small businesses striving to achieve their American Dream across our nation,' Britt said in a statement. 'I'm proud of this effort to empower parents, which ultimately opens the door to more opportunities for their children and tackles our nation's urgent workforce needs to help unleash a new era of American prosperity.' The same legislation has already been introduced in the House, led by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Salud Carbajal, D-Calif. Similar bills have been introduced in previous Congresses but have not been passed through both chambers to be enacted.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. John Curtis joins proposal to encourage businesses to make child care more affordable
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to make child care more affordable for parents by providing tax credits for businesses that provide options for their employees. The Child Care Availability and Affordability Act, being introduced in the Senate this week, seeks to update current tax provisions to make child care more affordable while also creating a program to boost the number of child care workers. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, has signed on to the bill as a cosponsor, calling the proposal a 'practical, commonsense solution' to support working families. 'It's becoming increasingly difficult to raise a family, due in large part to the high cost of child care. Quite frankly, parents deserve better,' Curtis said in a statement. 'By updating tax credits that help cover child care costs and supporting businesses that provide caregiving benefits, our bill puts money back into the pockets of hardworking parents.' The bill is being led by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tim Kaine, D-Va. The bill would bolster the Employer-Provided Child Care Tax Credit to further encourage businesses to provide child care to their employees, particularly small businesses. The proposal would increase the maximum credit from $150,000 to $500,000 and increase the percentage of covered expenses from 25% to 50%. Those incentives would be larger for small businesses by increasing maximum credit to $600,000 and would allow small businesses to enter into joint applications to pool resources. The legislation would expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to make it partially refundable, allowing lower-income families with out-of-pocket child care expenses to benefit from the credit for the first time, according to the legislation. In doing so, the tax credit would expand maximum benefits to $2,500 for families with one child and up to $4,000 for families with multiple children. The expansion would be the first update to the tax credit program in more than two decades, during which child care costs have risen by more than 200%, according to lawmakers. The proposal would also strengthen the Dependent Care Assistance Program to allow families to deduct up to $7,500 more in expenses. The DCAP would then be decoupled from the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to benefit middle-income families with high child care costs but do not have access to the latter due to income restrictions. 'This commonsense proposal is about more than just addressing our child care crisis — it is a direct investment in the hardworking families and local small businesses striving to achieve their American Dream across our nation,' Britt said in a statement. 'I'm proud of this effort to empower parents, which ultimately opens the door to more opportunities for their children and tackles our nation's urgent workforce needs to help unleash a new era of American prosperity.' The same legislation has already been introduced in the House, led by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Salud Carbajal, D-Calif. Similar bills have been introduced in previous Congresses but have not been passed through both chambers to be enacted.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Moms to Trump: We want relief on child care costs
An organization that advocates for child care and other family policies is launching a national campaign to encourage President Donald Trump to keep — and expand — the only tax credit that specifically helps parents pay for their increasing child care costs. The advocacy effort comes as some House Republicans openly consider gutting that financial support in upcoming budget talks over Trump's tax policy. Moms First announced an ad campaign Monday that will advocate for Trump and the new Republican-controlled Congress to maintain and improve a tax credit for families known as the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. Ads will be posted online and on billboards in six cities with some of the highest child care costs — Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, New York and San Diego. The imagery compares the cost of child care to prices of popular local foods, gas and rent. The campaign will encourage people to sign a letter to Trump. Caregivers can claim up to $3,000 in qualifying expenses for one dependent, but in practice the average parent only receives about a $600 credit based on income. The tax cut has not been permanently updated since 2001. (Congress and former President Joe Biden temporarily expanded it in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.) Reshma Saujani, the CEO and founder of Moms First, said the rising cost of child care is a top priority for parents. She noted data from a survey her group helped conduct in December that showed nearly 85 percent of registered voters think Congress should do something to make child care more affordable — including 78 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of independents and 91 percent of Democrats. 'I think whoever actually does acknowledge how big of an issue child care — and the unavailability of it, and the unaffordability of it — is for families, is going to have their trust,' she said. 'So I think voters are watching, and I think it was a really big issue, and the fact that they're trying to cut it speaks volumes. And so now I think it's up to President Trump to make whole on the commitment he's made.' While the cost of child care in America varies by state, it is a significant expense for families. The average annual cost of child care in 2023 was nearly $11,600 — triple the average annual cost of child care more than 20 years ago when the child care tax credit was last set. Last year, Saujani and her organization garnered national attention for urging CNN moderators to ask a question about child care costs during the sole presidential debate between Trump and Biden. The men ultimately spent more time talking about golf. Trump was asked about the cost of child care on the campaign trail and offered little concrete commitment. Still, Moms First noted that at an October town hall with women voters, the then-candidate acknowledged that the related costs of child care is 'not fair.' 'We're going to readjust things [taxes] so that it's fair to everybody, because it's really not fair to everybody,' Trump said. A 50-page document, which House Republicans circulated last week amid open talks about cutting federal programs, puts the child care credit on the chopping block. Eliminating the credit would save an estimated $55 billion over 10 years. 'That should make President Trump upset, because he made a commitment to families,' Saujani said. Sarah Rittling is executive director of the First Five Years Fund, an organization that has worked with a coalition of child care advocacy groups, including Moms First, to advocate for the expansion of the child and dependent care tax credit — including a recent letter to Trump. She is hopeful that there is bipartisan support for advancing tax policy that will benefit parents. 'This isn't something that truly is on the chopping block when you look at the amount of external support for the tax credit — for making it bigger and because of the amount of congressional support that we have,' she said. Some advocates believe a slate of bipartisan bills in Congress indicate momentum toward advancing policy that helps families with their child care costs. During the sole vice presidential debate, JD Vance acknowledged the financial bind some parents find themselves in. 'One of the biggest complaints I hear from young families is people who feel like they don't have options, like they're choosing between going to work or taking care for [sic] their kids,' he said. 'That is an incredible burden to put on American families. We're the only country that does it. I think we could do a heck of a lot better.' Weeks earlier, when Vance was asked at an Arizona campaign stop how he would address the cost of day care, he indicated that grandparents could step in. After some backlash, he tried to clarify his stance, in part by calling out the child care tax credit as penalizing families who don't send children to day care. 'We should try to encourage whatever is best for each individual family. Right now we don't: we try to force or at least subsidize one model on every family in this country. And if you open up kinship and other options for families, you will relieve some pressure on the daycare system in this country,' he wrote on X. On Friday, during an appearance at the anti-abortion March For Life event in Washington, D.C., Vance further indicated support for a child care tax credit during remarks: 'I want more babies in the United States of America.' 'I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them,' he said. 'And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids.' The child care credit is separate from the child-tax credit, which currently provides parents $2,000 to use on costs associated with raising a child — like diapers, food, rent, and medicine. That's double the previous $1,000 limit, though Trump's 2017 tax credit amount is slated to expire this year unless lawmakers take action. (A temporary, more expansive credit enacted during the pandemic, which reached more low-income families, expired in 2022.) Moms First also supports the expansion of the child tax credit. The post Moms to Trump: We want relief on child care costs appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
