MomsRising.org: Where moms and people who love them go to change the world

Help Families Struggling with the High Costs of Child Care!

Senator Olympia Snowe and Senator Blanche Lincoln have joined forces to introduce the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009. This Act would improve the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for millions of families by more than doubling the maximum credit families can claim for child care expenses and making it fully refundable so that low and moderate income working families will also benefit.

Urge your Senators to co-sponsor this critical legislation now!

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear Senator,

As one of over a million members of MomsRising.org, I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009 (S.997), recently introduced by Senators Blanche LIncoln and Olympia Snowe.  Families are struggling to make ends meet and the cost of child care has skyrocketed over the past decade.

In every state, monthly child care expenses for two children at any age are higher than the median rent cost, and as high or even higher than the average monthly mortgage payment.  The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC)  is supposed to provide relief to families.  Yet it’s not doing the job: Currently, the expense limit of $3,000 is significantly below the average cost of full-time child care in every state.  And because the current CDCTC is non refundable, it fails to help low income families who need it the most.  
 
The Family Tax Relief Act of 2009 would improve the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for millions of families by increasing the maximum credit for child care expenses and making it fully refundable so that low and moderate income working families with little or no federal income tax liability will also benefit.  It would also improve the employer-provided dependent care benefits by raising the exclusion limit.  The improvements in the credit and employer-provided benefits would be indexed for inflation.
 
Please support families by co-sponsoring the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009.  I look forward to your response.
 
Sincerely,
 
P.S.  For more information about the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009, seehttp://www.nwlc.org/pdf/FamilyTaxReliefAct2009.pdf  and http://www.liveunited.org/PublicPolicy/FTRA2009.cfm

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