DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday, Nov. 22, proposed a new tax credit offsetting up to $6,000 in costs for middle-class families who care for their aging parents or grandparents and disabled family members.
“We need to recognize the value of the work that caregivers give to all of us, both those who are paid and the great number who are unpaid,” Clinton told a crowd of more than 400 gathered at a town hall-style meeting in Iowa on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
Her proposal, the latest in a series geared toward America’s middle class, seeks a credit to 20 percent of up to $6,000 in caregiving costs for a total savings of up to $1,200. It also calls for providing caregivers with additional Social Security benefits, and reforming work-family policies to support paid and unpaid caregivers, a Clinton aide said.
In the United States, there are approximately 12 million who require long-term care. By 2050, as the population ages, that number is expected to hit 27 million, according to a Clinton campaign fact sheet. The presidential candidate said the economic value of unpaid work performed by family caregivers in 2013 for aging and disabled individuals was $470 billion.
“As baby boomers age, more and more families will need to provide care for or will need care from loved ones,” her campaign said. “Many family members, most often spouses and adult daughters, spend time out of the workforce, cut back on hours, or use personal days, vacation and family time to provide needed care.”
Clinton also said that lost wages and work especially comes at a cost to women, who constitute the majority of paid and unpaid caregivers.
“Whether a woman leaves the workforce to care for children or leaves the workforce to care for a spouse or parent, it means that there is not then an income coming in that could be used to help calculate Social Security benefits later. And I think we have got to recognize that for many women, this has a very serious impact on the amount of money they then draw from Social Security, in order to take care of themselves,” Clinton said.
Campaign estimates put the cost of the plan at $10 billion throughout a 10-year period. However, it would not add to the nation’s debt, the campaign said, as it would be financed with tax increases Clinton has previously proposed.
“Hillary Clinton’s solution to every pressing issue is to expand government and raise taxes, and this plan is no different as it will cost hardworking Americans billions,” said Ninio Fetalvo, Asian Pacific American press secretary at the Republican National Committee. “Clinton is simply checking a box to score political points at the expense of middle-class Americans.”
Wall Street Journal political reporter Laura Meckler, who covers Clinton and the 2016 presidential campaign, wrote that the Clinton campaign did not provide more specific details about a revenue source for the proposal, other than a variety of other pay-fors.
Assisting adults attending to their elderly parents, often while simultaneously raising their own children or assisting with their grandchildren, has become a theme at Clinton’s campaign stops, Reuters reported.
Clinton’s plan would also invest additional money into programs providing grant dollars for respite care needs, such as short stays in caregiving facilities, according to CBS. She would also launch a government-wide “Care Workers Initiative,” which would guide training and placement for care workers and ensure they are paid fairly, CBS reported.
The presidential candidate previously proposed the creation of a new, refundable $5,000 credit for out-of-pocket health costs and a new credit for businesses that create apprenticeships, Politico reported. Her campaign said she will offer additional middle-class tax breaks in the coming months.
