a thought about tax-deductibility
October 15th, 2008 7:44 pm

The more I think about this, the more frustrated I get…:  I think it’s messed up that daycare expenses are tax-deductible but that there do not appear to be analogous breaks for women that choose to stay home to care for their children.

I wouldn’t necessarily advocate that there be some kind of across-the-board tax-break just because she decided to stay home but looking at it closely, it seems to suggest a kind of penalty for mothers that choose to breastfeed.  Especially during those first few months, breastfeeding is practically a full time job.  Making daycare expenses tax-deductible without some equivalent or analog for breastfeeding mothers seems to stack the economic deck against this decision.

It occurs to me that this would be a tough thing to put in place.  How do you verify that someone is exclusively breastfeeding?  Do you take away the tax-break if someone slips in a bottle of formula once in a great while because of some emergency?  I suppose there is no easy answer but it also seems like we’re not trying hard enough as a culture ensure that parents aren’t penalized for what should be good, smart decisions in their child-rearing.

Posted in Family by Rob
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01
beezers
October 17th, 2008 1:47 pm

whoa?!! Daycare is tax deductible? Really? hmm…

I totally agree that if they are tax deductible, then a stay at home mother or father SHOULD be able to deduct fees as if they were providing daycare. I mean, you’re giving up a money earning venture in order to stay home and provide good care to the taxpayers of tomorrow, so I think that’s worth the deduction!

02
beezers
October 17th, 2008 1:52 pm

hmm and as for breast feeding and getting a deduction, sure you can track it. Get an online scheduling system set up and track your hours. Get your significant to sign off!

I mean, one could just as easily cheat at daycare for the deduction, I’d assume. Write a check to your friend, have them cash it and return most of it, write it off… seems like that could work.

03
Mary
October 17th, 2008 3:22 pm

The tax deduction for day care is a little more complicated than that. The person or institute that you are wrinting the check too, must have a Federal Tax ID number to be able to even take the deduction. Most home daycare is not “tax deductable” because they do not have that number. Having that number means they pay social security for their employees, workman’s comp as well. Much more complicated than most people know about. And that type of day care can be much more expensive because if their expenses. It sounds easy to do, but so involved that you will need an accountant to be sure you stay on the straight and narrow just to be able to make it through an audit as a business. Sometimes it makes more sense to be an old fashion family. Mary

04
Amy
October 18th, 2008 10:34 pm

If I end up getting the job and we move to Boston, we are definitely hiring an accountant to guide us through this stuff. Regardless of the hassle and the expense, we prefer a nanny so that we can keep tabs on H and have him in his own surroundings during the day. I think he can go to a regular daycare when he gets a little older…that’s just the arrangement that we would feel most comfortable with personally.

And perhaps unfortunately for me, I was raised around a lot of negative attitudes regarding daycare. Even if I know that putting H in daycare for a bit is the best thing for us, I still have to live with the guilt that those attitudes engendered.

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