President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to work on his affordable child care plan and paid family leave policy next. Speaking to Congress last Tuesday, he cited Republicans and Democrats should start the ball rolling for the benefit of American parents and families.
This was one of his main promises during his campaign. It sprung from an idea raised by his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who wanted the president to embrace child care and paid family leave when he assumed office. In fact, Ivanka helped her dad outline his policy underscoring three new tax benefits, according to CNN Money.
What do Trump's affordable child care plan and paid family leave cover? Will most American families benefit from it?
The general idea of any child care plan is to make the cost of raising kids tax deductible. Parents who are in the low-income bracket, on the other hand, are given some tax credits where applicable.
An analysis of the tax benefits proposed by Trump's government, however, revealed it favored the rich the most. It stipulated families earning $100,000 and above would get to enjoy about 70 percent tax benefits, while those earning $200,000 and more would receive 25 percent benefits, according to the experts from the Tax Policy Center. Families in the low-income bracket would get only five percent of the benefits.
"The child care proposal is generous and broad; almost everyone with young children will get some benefit from it," economist Alan Cole said, according to Bloomberg. "However, the largest benefits will go to relatively affluent dual-income families using paid child care."
Ivanka already initiated discussions with the House and Senate regarding the taxes under the new child care plan last February. As for paid family leave, Trump's plan covered six weeks paid maternity leave plus additional tax credits if the parents have daycare or child care services. Curiously, the "family" policy has no clear details regarding adoptive parents and fathers.
"The words say 'parents' and 'family leave,' but the proposal he has put forward is for maternity leave only," Family Values director Ellen Bravo said, according to Huffington Post. "The proposal is also for only six weeks and would come from an under-funded source: state unemployment insurance funds."
