Washington, DC (May 7, 2009) — Corporate Voices for Working Families (CVWF) and the American Business Collaboration (ABC) support legislation introduced today that, if passed, would make child care more affordable to working families.
Representatives John Yarmuth (D-KY), Sam Johnson (R-TX), Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and Peter Roskam (R-IL) introduced H.R. 2298 to amend the Internal Revenue Code to increase dependent care flexible spending account (DCFSA) limits.
The legislation proposes an increase in the cap on DCFSA from the current maximum of $5,000 a year—a figure that has been unchanged since 1986—to $7,500 a year. In today’s dollars, this tax benefit is worth only $2,800, while the average cost of care for an infant ranges from $4,000 to $14,000 a year. The new legislation would also set the new cap of $7,500 to inflation.
“DCFSA is a powerful tool that benefits working families, but inflation has reduced its effectiveness,” Donna Klein, president and founder of Corporate Voices for Working Families, said. “Congress should raise contribution limits to ensure quality care for children, dependent elderly and the disabled.”
About Corporate Voices for Working Families
Corporate Voices for Working Families is the leading national business membership organization representing the private sector on public and corporate policy issues involving working families. We aim to improve the lives of working families and the competitiveness of American businesses.
Our Web site: www.cvworkingfamilies.org.
Our blog: www.corporatevoices.wordpress.com
About The American Business Collaboration
The American Business Collaboration is a groundbreaking collaboration of leading U.S. companies (Champions) partnering for over 14 years, in more than 68 U.S. communities and investing more than $138,000,000 to ensure that their employees have access to quality dependent care programs and services to help them manage their work and personal responsibilities. To date, more than 1,700 dependent care programs have benefited from ABC funding to improve the quality and supply of care in the United States. Current ABC Champion companies are: Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, Exxon Mobil Corporation, IBM Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Texas Instruments. To learn more about ABC, please visit the website at www.abcdependent.com.
Contact:
Allison Tomei
Corporate Voices for Working Families
202-333-8922
