Legislation authored by GOP lawmakers would expand eligibility for a state tax credit that encourages business investments in child care.
Sen. Howard Marklein of Spring Green and Rep. Karen Hurd of Withee recently circulated a co-sponsorship memo for the bill, which would change the child care portion of the WEDC Business Development Tax Credit. It would allow more activities to qualify, which authors say would give families more options and increase the number of available child care slots in the state.
Under current law, businesses can get a tax credit of up to 15% of their investment in establishing a child care program for employees, but that’s restricted to capital expenses, according to the memo.
“Unfortunately, we have heard that the current program parameters limit the incentive for businesses to invest in child care programs,” authors wrote. “While many businesses may want to provide child care as a benefit to employees, the current credit limitations reduce the incentive for this investment.”
Under the bill, the credit would apply to: capital expenditures to set up a child care program for employees; the cost of operating such a program; reimbursing employees for child care expenses; the cost of purchasing or reserving child care slots on behalf of employees; contributions to a dependent care flexible spending account; and any cost or expense of benefits provided to “facilitate the provision or utilization” of child care by employees.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. would be authorized to certify certain nonprofit organizations to receive the business development tax credit for employee child care-related expenditures.
“While not a silver bullet, these changes are another step in the right direction to address the child care issue in Wisconsin,” authors wrote.
The co-sponsorship deadline is tomorrow at 5 p.m.
See the memo.
