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TomCADem

(17,390 posts)
Tue Feb 28, 2017, 10:23 PM Feb 2017

Trump's child care plan is gift to the rich, report says

No surprise, but Trump's child care plan is an offer of assistance to those who need it least.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/28/news/economy/donald-trump-child-care/index.html

President Donald Trump has vowed to make child care in America cheaper.

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But an analysis by the Tax Policy Center finds that Trump's proposal is a gift to the rich. The tax experts at TPC say 70% of the benefits will go to families that make $100,000 or more. And 25% will go to people earning $200,000 or more.

"Trump has identified a real challenge affecting working families, but his proposal would do little or nothing to help them," Elaine Maag, an expert at the Tax Policy Center, told CNNMoney. A typical middle class family earns about $56,000.

The heart of Trump's plan is to significantly expand the tax deduction that families can take for child care expenses for kids under 13. Anyone making less than $250,000 ($500,000 if married) could deduct the average cost of child care in their state. (The average would be based on the age of their child, since it usually costs more to care for infants and toddlers). That sounds great, but families have to pay income taxes to Uncle Sam in order to take advantage of the deduction. Many working class families pay nothing in federal income taxes because they earn too little in income to owe anything.
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