Family leave changes lie ahead

One of the promises President Trump made before he was elected was to tackle family caregiving costs.

Americans have seen their incomes squeezed by the skyrocketing costs for child care and adult care.

Also, Americans continue to fear the loss of their jobs if they must take leave to take care of their loved ones, or even themselves.

Enter Trump and some plans he has to address these issues.

A goal is to help working moms and dads cover their childcare costs. Furthermore, there are moves to not only help working parents, but caregivers of their parents. With more elderly people living with their children, calls have been made to include their costs for care, too.

Ideas that have come up include child care expense deductions and Dependent Care Savings Accounts (DCSAs). These accounts would allow low-income workers receiving additional tax breaks for contributing to these accounts. The government would provide a 50 percent match.

Then there is the idea of providing spending rebates for lower-income taxpayers. This rebate is meant to help those who don’t pay taxes because they don’t work.

The Trump plan would rewrite the tax code to allow working parents to deduct child care expenses from their income taxes for up to four children and elderly dependents.

Another area that would be addressed is maternity leave. Trump has proposed a plan that would guarantee six weeks of paid maternity leave by amending the existing unemployment insurance that companies are required to carry.

The benefit would apply only when employers don’t offer paid maternity leave. Furthermore, it would be paid for by offsetting reductions in the program so that taxes are not raised. This enhancement could triple the average paid leave received by new mothers.