DES MOINES, Iowa — Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a new tax break for people caring for aging parents and grandparents as part of a series of benefits she is says will help middle-class families.
The Democratic presidential candidate is unveiling her latest proposal on Sunday and plans to discuss it at a town hall-style meeting in Iowa. She is seeking a tax credit of up to $6,000 to offset caregiving expenses for elderly family members.
In her proposal, Clinton states that the number of Americans needing long-term care and support is expected to grow from about 12 million today to 27 million by 2050. She says that family members often have to take time away from work, using vacation time or personal time to provide care.
An outline of her proposal states that "Clinton believes that it is time to give these caregiving families a tax cut."
The former secretary of state is also seeking to provide additional Social Security benefits to those who spend time out of the workforce to care for immediate family. She wants to enhance support for care workers and increase funding for a program that offers state-level grants to programs for caregivers. Clinton's campaign says the plan would cost $10 billion over 10 years and would be paid for through other revenue increases.
The proposal is part of a series of tax cuts that Clinton plans to roll out in the coming weeks.
In Memphis on Friday, she touted a tax credit of up to $5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals she proposed earlier this year. Americans with out-of-pocket health care expenses exceeding 5 per cent of their income would be eligible for the credit. Her campaign says the tax cut will be funded through tax increases on wealthy families and by "demanding" rebates from drug manufactures.
Clinton says that she is the only primary candidate committed to holding current tax rates on average workers. She has accused primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders of promoting programs that she says would raise taxes on middle-class families, including his plan for a single-payer health system based on Medicare.
Sanders' campaign says that his single-payer health system would save taxpayers money in the long run because it would eliminate wasteful health spending.
