Hey Congress, Tell us where we can find child care for $3,000 a year?

Posted June 2nd, 2009 by Donna Norton

I know that tax season is over, but I’m still riled up. Every time I get to that section of my taxes where they ask you to report your child care expenses to a maximum (maximum!) of $3,000 for one child, my blood boils.

Where the heck are you going to find full-time quality child care for just $3000 per year!?

The truth is that in most communities, the cost of child care breaks the family budget. In New York, for example, the average annual price of care in a center for two young children is more than single parents earn on average in a year.1 Now how is that supposed to add up for families?

We need real relief. Happily, the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009 has been introduced into Congress to make child care more affordable.

Urge your Senators to co-sponsor this important legislation:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27267

About the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009: The Family Tax Relief Act of 2009 (S. 997) sponsored by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), would improve the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for millions of families by more than doubling the maximum credit families can claim for child care expenses and making it fully refundable so that low and moderate income working families will also benefit.2

Now, more than ever, families need our support. The Family Tax Relief Act of 2009 would make a real difference in the lives of millions of families.

Please forward this message on to friends, families, moms, and dads at your workplace and in your community. We need everyone’s voice to pass this important legislation.

Don’t forget to send a letter to your Senators now asking them to co-sponsor this critical legislation:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27267

Thank you for your support of America’s families.

Donna, Sarah, Kristin and the MomsRising Team

[1] NACCRRA, Parents and the High Price of Child Care, p. 15. http://issuu.com/naccrra/docs/parents-and-the-high-price-of-child-care-2008?mode=embed&layout=white

[2] For more information on the this legislation see, http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/FamilyTaxReliefAct2009.pdf and http://www.liveunited.org/PublicPolicy/FTRA2009.cfm

P.S. Thank you to our friends at First Focus, the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, the National Women’s Law Center, and United Way of America for their work on this issue.