Clinton: Caregiver Tax Break Proposed For Family Caregivers

Bernie Sanders on Sunday characterized Hillary Clintons latest tax plans as tentative half-steps that sound Republican-lite, escalating the sparring between the Democratic presidential campaigns over their respective commitments to helping the middle class.

At a November 22 town hall meeting in Iowa, Hillary Clinton proposed a $6,000 tax credit for home caregivers.

In Memphis, she touted a tax refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals she proposed earlier this year. 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.

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.

As part of her proposal, Clinton also said she would push for stronger workplace protections for professional caregivers, who are among the lowest wage earners in the country.

“I really do want to be a president who is there for you”, Clinton said Sunday. “Clinton believes that it is time to reform our tax policies, Social Security system, and work-family policies, to support paid and unpaid caregivers and to recognize their fundamental contributions to families and to America”.

Instead, she’s vowed to defend the president’s health care plan and encourage Republican governors, like Gov. Bill Haslam in Tennessee, to expand their states’ Medicaid program under the federal law. “He’s a teacher. He takes his mother to work with him”, she said at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner in October.

Increase Caregiver Respite Program: Clinton plans to invest $100 million in the Lifespan Respite Care Act, which authorizes grants to improve respite care access for family caregivers.

Sanders’ campaign says that his single-payer health system would save taxpayers money in the long run because it would eliminate wasteful health spending. Support for Sen. Sanders is up thirteen percent, and support for former Sec. of State Clinton has gone up by three percent in the past month.

Clinton’s primary rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen.

She said she’s laying out how she will pay for all of of her proposals and future proposals as well.

Clinton’s campaign, which has yet to outline a full tax plan, did not say how she intends to pay for the caregiving proposal.

“I think she’s really hit on the idea that sometimes people are working and their work isn’t valued”, said Engle, a school counselor. Mrs. Clinton is facing an opponent who seems intent on forcing her to the left, especially on economic issues relating to income inequality.