Republicans Finally Agree That Families Need Government Help With Child Care

Before Donald Trump’s latest outrage, he actually gave a real speech, reading from his teleprompter and not off the cuff, that detailed his economic plan. About the only thing new in the speech was the fact that he did not go off script. It was the usual failed bromides that Republicans have been spewing for the last 30 years. Huge tax breaks for the rich, cuts in corporate taxes, allowing companies to repatriate profits at a reduced tax rate, cut regulations on corporations and Wall Street, and, of course, providing no detailed spending cuts that might indicate how this will all be paid for without blowing another hole in the deficit and adding to the national debt. All of these have been tried and shown to fail spectacularly. But there was one proposal that actually does dovetail with Democratic priorities and that is the idea that child-care expenses could be deducted on their tax returns. Of course, by couching this as a tax deduction as opposed to a tax credit, Trump’s proposal pretty much eliminates any benefit for poor parents while providing substantial help to rich ones. But this is, after all, a Republican proposal so we shouldn’t expect anything less. Still, Democrats should take this ball and run with it. If Republicans now agree that we need to mitigate the costs of childcare through some type of government program or change in the tax code, then all that remains is figuring the best way to do that. Of course, it will be much harder than that. Right now, the government allows a credit of $3,000 per child with a maximum credit of $6,000.  Since it is estimated that over half of America’s families spend over 10% of their income on child care, these credits are hardly sufficient. Shockingly, in 33 states child care costs actually exceed the cost of in-state college tuition. Hillary Clinton has proposed capping child care costs at 10% of income and, although full details have not been released, it is likely that that will be accomplished through a tax credit of about $14,000 per child that would be distributed to eligible parents on a monthly basis during the year but paid directly to the child-care provider. In any case, the larger point is that Republicans finally agree that American families need help from government with child-care costs. That alone is progress..