CHENANGO COUNTY – With the rising cost of child care across New York, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced a plan to make child care more affordable and accessible for working-class New Yorkers in a press conference call on Tuesday.
At the heart of the proposed legislation is the mounting cost of child care coupled with a lack of available effective, child care facilities.
In 2012, New York State was ranked the second least-affordable in the nation for full-time day care for an infant, according to a report by Child Care Aware, a national independant agency that provides reliable information about quality child care and referrals to community resources.
According to the Child Care Aware study, a two-parent family in New York spent an average of 16.5 percent of their annual income on care for their infant. For a single mother in New York, the cost of care was greater than 57 percent of her income.
In response to the ever-increasing financial squeeze on New York working families, Gillibrand is championing the legislation to address the lack of access to quality, affordable child care.
“If you can’t afford child care, as many middle class families can’t, and you don’t have a family option, the choice you’re left with is to leave your job and stay at home to care for your children,” said Gillibrand. “That means less income for working families, more women leaving the workforce, and a weaker middle class. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can keep more working mothers in their jobs, and more children in quality day care – when we make it affordable – and make our policies reflect today’s reality that women have to work for a living. This isn’t a lifestyle choice. This is a fact of survival for many New York families.”
According to a press release obtained from Gillibrand's office, “Statistics show that today's working families must rely more on child care than ever before. A generation ago, a working mother with young children was far less common. In 1975, 39 percent of mothers with young children worked outside the home. In 2005, that number was 63 percent. Half of middle-class working moms with children under the age of 5 rely on day care centers or other paid care. Across the nation, more than 6.7 million children are in child care outside the home each day. Families with young children on average spend about $6,700 a year on child care, nearly as much as what the average family spends on groceries.”
In Chenango County, efforts to alleviate the burden of finding reliable child care have been underway for nearly a year.
In an article that appeared in The Evening Sun in January, the re-establishment of a child care center in the Norwich area came to the forefront of meeting between local business leaders, Commerce Chenango and The Family Enrichment Network; where it was agreed that implementing plans to move forward was in the best interest of both area parents and regional economic development.
The Family Enrichment Network, with the support of the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council, was awarded a $100,000 Empire State Development Grant for start-up of a child care center in Chenango County, and additional funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission has also been applied for.
Steve Craig, CEO of Commerce Chenango cited that the area’s lack of child care as a roadblock to employment for many working parents. “It’s an impediment for employers too,” he added. “They definitely see a need. It’s viewed as an economic development and pro business thing to do.”
Along with her plans for assisting working families secure affordable child care, augmented with the recent legislation to expand Universal pre-k to all New York school districts, Gillibrand is working to more than double the Dependent and Child Care Tax Credit (DCTC). Currently, the child and dependent care tax credit is worth a maximum of 35 percent of child care expenses, up to $1,050 per child or $2,100 for two children.
The credit applies to any child under the age of 13 and to disabled dependents of any age. The Right Start Child Care and Education Act would increase the maximum credit from $1,050 to $3,000 per child, by raising the percentage of the tax credit to 50 percent and doubling eligible expenses.
The legislation also makes the tax credit fully refundable, allowing low-income families with no tax liability to receive the full benefit.
Under current tax guidelines, New York families with two children earning $30,000 a year receives a credit of $1,620 ($810 per child). Under the Gillibrand proposal, which would make the tax credit refundable, the same family with two children could receive a maximum credit of $6,000 ($3,000 per child).
“Families would have the option of choosing an above-the-line deduction to help mitigate the high cost of child care. After all, child care expenses are necessary, non-optional costs to families with working parents that cannot forfeit needed wages,” the release said.
Another facet to the legislation is an incentive to New York businesses to provide on-site child care services for their employees. The bill would provide employers with a tax deduction worth 35 percent of the cost of creating these facilities, as opposed to the current employer reimbursement of 25 percent.
“Families would have the option of choosing an above-the-line deduction to help mitigate the high cost of child care. After all, child care expenses are necessary, non-optional costs to families with working parents that cannot forfeit needed wages,” Gillibrand said.