Originally Posted by Michael:
*** Increase tax credits to help cover the cost of childcare. To help address the childcare affordability crisis, President Biden is calling on Congress to expand child care tax credits on an emergency basis for one year to help working families cover the cost of childcare. Families will get back as a tax credit as much as half of their spending on child care for children under age 13, so that they can receive a total of up to $4,000 for one child or $8,000 for two or more children. The tax credit will be refundable, meaning that families who don’t owe a lot in taxes will still benefit. The full 50 percent reimbursement will be available to families making less than $125,000 a year.
Time to raise rates. A parent paying 154 a week is going to get half that back making their daycare bill 77 a week which would be 1.54 an hour (ten hour day) for one kid and 3.08 an hour for two. If they are getting that kind of subsidy, the providers need to raise their rates substantially.
I fear there will be strings attached to this eventually. After getting this kind of subsidy, parents aren't going to want it to end. I see the next phase being... the provider has to qualify as a "high quality" daycare. High quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. First move would be every family qualifying has to go to a registered daycare to get the credit.