What would your ideal National child care plan look like?
I've often thought it unfair that parents who stay home and care for their own kids do not receive a tax deduction, while parents that send their kids to someone else for daytime care can claim a sizable deduction for daycare.
I'd like to see a national child care program that helps parents who want to stay home with their kids while at the same time financially assisting those that can or will not.
Why is this unfair? Why should taxpayers (i.e. those who go out into the workforce to work) support parents who choose to stay home to look after their kids? Why should this be encouraged at all?
I can understand supporting maternity/parental leave until a child is a year old since this is a critical time in a child's development, but after that, why should there be any further taxpayer support for parents who choose to stay home with their children, aside from the tax credits given to all parents? I believe that studies have shown that kids thrive in good daycare programs.
The whole idea of the tax deduction is to recognize that you have to incur an expense to earn income. It recognizes that you have to pay for childcare to work and be a productive member of society. If you choose to stay home, you aren't paying any expenses and you aren't earning any income so the deduction is completely irrelevant.
Of course, I'm not suggesting that raising kids isn't work. However, when you think of the cost of daycare, that work is worth a lot less than what the average person can earn in the job market.
The bottom line is daycare is good for kids and good for the economy. Staying home, while it may be good for the kids, isn't so great for the economy and we shouldn't support it with taxpayer money. I'd love to stay home and take care of the kids, but I shouldn't expect others to pay for me to do so.
The real societal problems associated with parenting and work include the outrageous cost of daycare and the fact that the current tax deduction doesn't even come close to offsetting the full cost of daycare in Toronto. We also need workplace policies that offer greater flexiblity for parents to deal with the challenges of work and parenting (e.g. time off to take the kids to the doctor and other emergencies that come up).