U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Sunday proposed a set of initiatives aimed at caregiving families and workers, including a tax credit to offset up to $6,000 in costs associated with caring for elderly and disabled family members and an expansion of Social Security benefits to individuals acting as unpaid caregivers for loved ones.
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Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed a new tax break for caregivers.
Clinton made her comments during a town hall meeting in Clinton, Iowa, today.
She would also allow caregivers to get Social Security retirement benefits for such work. Providing care can mean reduced hours at work or a hiatus from the workforce, both of which can reduce the Social Security benefit available to those workers when they retire. “That will help family budgets stretch”.
Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters “the most important moment” for the campaign during last week’s second Democratic debate was when the three discussed taxing the middle class and to expect Clinton to discuss it more fully in the coming days. The tax breaks to caregivers will “cost hardworking Americans billions”, he said. The tax cuts will be revealed over the next few weeks. In an identical town hall in New Hampshire in Jul., Clinton described what she referred to as a “care-giving crisis” & stated authorities programs need to do more to assist. But, in answering a question about veterans’ health care, she accused conservatives of seeking to use the issue to privatize the system. “These are all fixable problems”, she said. Under legislation he previously introduced, his campaign acknowledges that taxes would increase on the middle class, but his aides argue that the overall cost of health care to would be lower because people would no longer pay premiums or deductibles.
More than 400 supporters gathered at Clinton Middle School to ask questions and hear what Clinton had to say.
The Clinton campaign said the proposal would not add to the national debt over time and would be deficit neutral.
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It also signals a push to win over organized labor by his campaign as the Granite State remains a close race between the top two Democrats – Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders and former governor Martin O’Malley, have declined to make. “Despite the extraordinary care they provide, home care workers are often invisible and among the lowest paid of any occupation, and almost half live in households that depend on public assistance”, the campaign said.
