During this election year, I have been running comparisons of the various presidential candidates on the various issues. My criteria is not to take a left or right view, but whether the view is feasible and/or even possible. If logic or the facts surrounding the issue cannot support the candidate's view, they get a failing or subpar grade.
Previous reviews:
Climate change and the presidential candidates
The death throes of Obamacare
Immigration and the Presidential Candidates
With the release of Donald Trump's 4-point plan for "family issues" (read: child care expenses), it is time to review the issue.
Since the advent of women's right to work, which has slowly built since the 19th century, with World War II becoming the largest bump it got. Post-WWII, the women's rights movement accelerated significantly. What my parents could handle in the 1970's on one income has become impossible for me to do with my family without my wife working too. I am not alone in this. Most families face the same problem.
Don't get me wrong. I fully support women's right to work. Unfortunately, the pre-WWII work force was dominated by men, and with the steady addition of women into the work force, the laws of supply and demand have tilted against workers: We had only about 50% of the working age population working, and now we have close to 100%. When supply doubles and demand remains relatively constant, the cost will get cut significantly.
This has created a situation where women MUST work. It is no longer a choice to work or stay home with the kids. Needless to say, this has created a further problem: Children raised by daycare. You can decide how well that works for you.
This doesn't even touch on situations where working adults are caring for elderly parents. This has been a situation since the dawn of time.
These are just the facts. I am not advocating a solution, or going back to the way things were. I will leave that up to our politicians. I know, dumb idea, right? But let's hear them out (links to websites explaining the positions used in this post are in each header):
1. Rewrite the tax code to allow working parents to deduct from their income taxes child care expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents.
- The deduction is available for taxpayers who take the standard deduction as well as itemize deductions, and will be capped at the average cost of care for the state of residence. Individuals earning more than $250,000 (or $500,000 if filing jointly) will not be eligible for the deduction. For a family earning $70,000 per year in the 12 percent tax bracket with $7,000 in child care expenses, the deduction would reduce taxes by $840 per year.
- The plan will offer child care spending rebates to lower-income taxpayers through the existing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). This could mean almost $1,200 per year per eligible family.
- Mr. Trump's plan will ensure stay-at-home parents will receive the same tax deduction as working parents, offering compensation for the job they're already doing, and allowing them to choose the child care scenario that's in their best interest.
2. Create new Dependent Care Savings Accounts (DCSAs) so that families can set aside extra money to foster their children's development and offset elder care for their parents or adult dependents. These new accounts are available to everyone, and allow both tax-deductible contributions and tax-free appreciation year-to-year-unlike current law Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), which are available only if it is offered by an employer and does not allow balances to accumulate.
- When established for a minor, funds from a DCSA can be applied to traditional child care, after-school enrichment programs and school tuition-contributing to school choice. To help lower-income parents, the government will match half of the first $1,000 deposited per year.
- When established for an elderly dependent, a DCSA can cover a variety of services, including in-home nursing and long-term care.
3. Provide regulatory reform to promote new family-based and community-based solutions, and also add incentives for employers to provide child care at the workplace. The ability to set aside funds will be particularly helpful to women, low-income workers and minorities, who are statistically more likely to reduce time working outside the home in order to provide unpaid care.
4. The Trump plan will guarantee six weeks of paid maternity leave by amending the existing unemployment insurance (UI) that companies are required to carry. The benefit would apply only when employers don't offer paid maternity leave, and would be paid for by offsetting reductions in the program so that taxes are not raised.GRADE: C-. Well-intentioned, but when you have to build this big a Rube Goldberg device, it is well past time to ask "why?" This isn't a solution, this is an "inside the box" plan. In addition, 6 weeks of paid maternity leave is nothing (I am not advocating for more, merely pointing out that 6 weeks is a small fraction of a child's life). Finally, Trump intentionally left out how he was going to pay for this large of a tax giveaway.
Hillary's "family issues" is a complex and politically "wonky" mess spread over several different areas on her website, so here is the best summary possible (get ready, because it is long!):
- Guarantee up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave to care for a new child or a seriously ill family member, and up to 12 weeks of medical leave to recover from a serious illness or injury of their own.
- Ensure hardworking Americans get at least two-thirds of their current wages, up to a ceiling, while on leave.
- Impose no additional costs on businesses, including small businesses.
- Fund paid leave by making the wealthy pay their fair share—not by increasing taxes on working families. Hillary will pay for her paid leave plan with tax reforms that will ensure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
- Work to close the pay gap. Women earn less than men across our economy—and women of color often lose out the most. We should promote pay transparency across the economy and work to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act—a bill Hillary introduced as senator—to give women the tools they need to fight discrimination in the workforce.
- Fight for paid leave. No one should have to choose between keeping their job and taking care of a sick family member, and no parent should have to go back to work right after they welcome a newborn baby.
- Make quality, affordable child care a reality for families. [NOTE: She doesn't actually say how she will do this.]
- Make preschool universal for every 4-year-old in America. Despite research showing its benefits, only about half of the roughly 8.1 million 3- and 4-year-olds in the United States are enrolled in preschool, with only one in four enrolled in publicly funded preschool. Hillary believes that every child deserves the same strong start. That’s why she will work to ensure that every 4-year-old in America has access to high-quality preschool in the next 10 years.
- Significantly increase child care investments so that no family in America has to pay more than 10 percent of its income to afford high-quality child care. The cost of child care has increased by nearly 25 percent during the past decade, while the wages of working families have stagnated. While families across America are stretched by skyrocketing costs, child care has become more important than ever before—both as a critical work support for the changing structure of American families and as an essential component of a child’s early development. These high costs severely squeeze working families, prevent too many children from getting a healthy start, and act as a disincentive for parents to stay in the workforce. Hillary will fight for every family in America to have access to high quality, affordable child care by significantly increasing the federal government’s investment in child care subsidies and providing tax relief for the cost of child care to working families.
- Improve the quality of child care and early learning by giving a RAISE to America’s child care workforce. One of the key drivers of high-quality child care is a supported and effective child care workforce. Yet, despite the high cost of child care, too many workers are not receiving a living wage, which fuels turnover and undermines the quality of care—and also causes many of those caring for and educating our children to live in poverty themselves. To increase the quality of child care in America and pay child care workers for the true value of their work, Hillary will create the Respect and Increased Salaries for Early Childhood Educators (RAISE) initiative. In line with Clinton’s Care Workers Initiative, RAISE will fund and support states and local communities that work to increase the compensation of child care providers and early educators and provide equity with kindergarten teachers by investing in educational opportunities, career ladders, and professional salaries.
- Double our investment in Early Head Start and the Early Head Start–Child Care Partnership program. Early Head Start provides comprehensive services to our youngest learners and their families—including health, nutrition, and pre-literacy support with a strong focus on children’s social and emotional development. The Early Head Start–Child Care Partnership program brings Early Head Start’s evidence-based curriculum into the child care setting to provide comprehensive, full-day, high-quality services to low-income families. To ensure our children have a strong foundation to learn, Hillary will double the number of children served by Early Head Start and the Early Head Start–Child Care Partnership program.
- Expand access to evidence-based home visiting programs. There is increasing scientific evidence that brain development in the earliest years of childhood is crucial to economic success. That’s why Hillary will double our investment in home visiting programs such as the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. These programs—which provide home visits by a social worker or nurse during and directly after pregnancy—significantly improve maternal and child health, development, and learning.
- Award scholarships of up to $1,500 per year to help as many as 1 million student parents afford high-quality child care. More than 25 percent of all college students are balancing school with raising a child. We should support them, not only because the economic benefit of a college degree lifts their own earning prospects, but also because it lifts the future earnings of their children too. To support America’s student parents, Hillary will launch the Student Parents in America Raising Kids (SPARK) program. SPARK will award scholarships of up to $1,500 per year to as many as 1 million student parents. Recipients can use the awards for costs that create barriers to success—including child care and emergency financial aid.
- Increase access to high-quality child care on college campuses by serving an additional 250,000 children. Student parents face many challenges, with greater financial and time constraints than many of their peers. College students who are parents leave school with an average debt that is 25 percent higher than non-parents. The demands of parenting mean that student parents spend two hours less on average per day on educational activities. And while nearly half of student parents attend two-year colleges, less than half of all two-year college campuses in America offer on-campus child care services. Student parents need our support. Hillary will work to dramatically increase access to child care on campus by increasing funding for campus-based child care centers.
Libertarian Gary Johnson
Gary Johnson's campaign was contacted for this story, but there was no response. If there is a response, it will be added here later.
I could speculate as to his answer, which would be something along the lines of "the government doesn't belong in family issues". However, that should be on his website.
There are some comments from him from years ago about how fathers should be more involved with their children, but that isn't an entire family issues policy.
GRADE: Incomplete. I don't mind if Johnson takes an anti-government view of family issues, but he should say as much. Ergo, he has to get an "incomplete" for this.
- Free universal child care.
- Guarantee tuition-free, world-class public education from pre-school...
- Enact paid sick leave and family leave...
SUMMARY: Stein wins because she gets it: If you're going to go socialist, go all the way. None of this half-arsed stuff like Hillary is trying to do.
On the other hand, Trump is playing old-style political baseball. In an age of home runs, he is still playing for singles and bunts and stolen bases. His plan is lame, ESPECIALLY by his own standards.
As for Johnson, he needs to speak up on this issue, even if his answer is "homie don't play that".
(hat tip to Panda Whale for the pic)
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