Hillary Clinton proposes capping childcare costs at 10% of income

Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton appear on stage after Monday's debate. Hillary Clinton has proposed capping the cost of childcare at 10 percent of parents' income by offering tax credits for the expense. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) — Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton highlighted her call to cap the cost of childcare at 10 percent of parents’ income in an op-ed in Fortune magazine published Thursday.

Clinton said the cap would be made possible “by making historic investments in childcare assistance and providing tax relief to working families.”

Clinton also renewed her pledge to create paid maternity and paternity leave for new parents.

Clinton’s opponent Donald Trump has proposed making the cost of childcare tax deductible, in addition to a paid government maternity leave of 6 weeks for new mothers. He also proposed a $1,200 new parent tax credit for low-income parents who do not pay income taxes.

Clinton recalled being pregnant with her daughter, Chelsea, while a lawyer at an Arkansas law firm and being surprised to learn the firm had no policy in place for maternity leave.

“When I was pregnant with my daughter Chelsea, I asked about the maternity leave policy at the law firm where I worked. I was surprised to find out that we didn’t have one. I soon learned why: No woman who worked in our office had ever come back to work full-time after having a baby.

Well, I wanted to come back. I loved what I did. And it was important to me to contribute to my family’s finances, especially now that we were having a baby.

When Chelsea was born, my employer agreed to grant me four months off to be home with her. I’d still earn an income, though it would be smaller; part of my income was determined by the fees I generated for the firm, which would fall to zero while I was on leave. That made sense to me. And it meant a lot that I could have that time with my new daughter, knowing that my job would be waiting for me when I came back.”

Clinton cast the issues as important not just for workers, but their employers and the overall economy, as well.

“If we’re going to build a globally competitive workforce, we can’t afford to leave any talent on the sidelines. We can’t keep short-changing working families.”

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