[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 38 (Monday, March 30, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E517-E518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     INTRODUCTION OF THE ``FAMILY FRIENDLY TAX RELIEF ACT OF 1998''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 30, 1998

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, it has been said that there is no greater job 
than to raise a child, and I believe that's true. Children are our 
country's greatest resource. Their stability is America's stability, 
because they are our future. That's why it's so important that as we 
think and talk about children and families, balancing work and family 
time, and the decisions families face about how to best care for their 
children, we need to have all the facts. We need to know what will work 
for our family. Every family is different.
  Parents today are facing very tough choices. It seems like there is 
never enough time to spend with their children, yet they are hard-
pressed to work and earn the money they need to make ends meet. 
American families need more options, more choices and more 
opportunities as they decide how to balance their work and home 
responsibilities.
  There are a lot of reasons for these increased pressures. The 
American family is under great stress today. Half of all marriages end 
in divorce. Domestic violence is on the rise. Drug use and suicide 
among teens is on the rise. And now, we're seeing one of the most 
heartbreaking tragedies of all--kids killing other kids at our nation's 
schools. These are tough times for the family.
  There is an added pressure, and that is that it's so expensive to 
raise a family these days. The latest issue of U.S. News and World 
Report's cover story, ``The Real Cost of Raising Kids,'' says that one 
government report showed that the cost of raising a child to age 18 has 
risen by 20 percent since 1960. The magazine conducted its own study to 
see how much it costs a typical, middle-income family today to raise a 
child from birth to college graduation. The answer: $1.45 million per 
child.
  But this figure did not take into account another reason why many 
families are so hard-pressed for time and money: They are weighed down 
with an incredible tax burden. The average American family of four used 
to pay about 5 percent of its income in federal taxes. According to a 
recent Wall Street Journal editorial, federal taxes have gone up faster 
than wages every year for the last five years, leaving the tax burden 
on families higher now than at any time since the end of World War II. 
While families used to pay 5 percent of the family budget in federal 
taxes, now that figure has ballooned to 23 percent. That doesn't even 
count state, local and indirect taxes. If you added those on, the tax 
burden on today's family would be 37 percent.
  We in Congress need to help moms and dads who are struggling to make 
ends meet. To do nothing to help lift this incredible tax burden from 
off of their backs is neither fair nor right. But neither is it fair 
nor right to merely direct new spending to day care centers or to just 
expand federal programs. Let's give back to families their own hard-
earned. Let them decide how to use it to meet their family's needs.
  Over the past few months, I've been working with various child and 
family experts, child psychologists, researchers and groups and have 
listened to what they had to say. In February, Senator Dan Coats held a 
congressional symposium on child care and parenting. Other Members of 
Congress and I heard from 17 different experts, most of whom said the 
same thing: What parents want and need most is time with their kids, 
and what kids need and want most is time with their parents. What can 
we do to help parents and kids receive what they really want and need?
  Today I am introducing the ``Family Friendly Tax Relief Act of 
1998.'' The $500-per-child tax credit for families with children under 
the age of 17 enacted last year was a great first-step in helping our 
nation's families. My bill does not take anything away from these 
families. But what it does do is to recognize the special economic 
needs of families with preschool children--children ages 0 to 4--by 
giving these families an additional $500 per child to help them in 
their care options.
  If you pay income taxes, you have a child under the age of 5, and you 
are not currently receiving the Dependent Care Tax Credit, you would be 
eligible to receive this tax credit. You could receive one or the 
other--either the DCTC, or my tax credit--but not both. People who do 
not pay taxes would not be eligible to receive this tax credit because 
they are already receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit.
  Last year's child tax credit had a technical problem regarding the 
Alternative Minimum Tax. There are a lot of people who are not able to 
receive last year's $500-per-child tax credit, because the Alternative 
Minimum Tax took precedence. This is a technicality which will grow 
more and more pronounced over the next few years as more and more 
people will have to file taxes under the AMT--not just wealthy people 
looking for tax shelters, but more and more middle-income people who 
qualify for tax credits. This was a glitch that needed adjusting. My 
bill will correct this problem so that more families with children will 
be able to receive a tax credit.
  Back in January, President Clinton announced his child care proposal, 
much of which merely expands current government programs. It is my 
understanding that his proposal would cost the American taxpayer $21 
billion over five years. The cost of my legislation would be roughly 
the same, with one important difference--my bill gives families 
choices.
  Now I think we need to do everything we can to help our country's 
moms and dads who are struggling to raise their families. But I think 
we could help them more if we would give them back their own money, and 
let them decide how to best use it to meet their family needs. My 
proposal will help everyone--parents who work outside the home, parents 
who work inside the home, parents who use commercial day care, parents 
who take care of their kids themselves or have relatives or friends 
care for their children--everyone.
  I don't believe in a Washington-mandated, ``one-size-fits-all'' 
solution when it comes to child care. Let's do what is right and fair 
and equitable for all. Let parents decide how to best care for their 
children, not Washington. We shouldn't tell parents what to do. Parents 
want control over their own lives and their own families so they can 
make their own decisions and choices to be able to spend more time with 
their children. Let's give parents freedom and flexibility.
  The Family Friendly Tax Relief Act of 1998 will allow moms and dads 
who are both working outside the home to take this money and use it to 
help pay for day care, if they use paid day care. Or, for other 
families who either have one parent staying home to care for their kids 
or have relatives, friends or neighbors helping them with child care, 
they could use this tax credit to help with other family budget needs. 
But it would be fair, giving back parents' hard-earned money, whether 
they worked outside or inside the home. I think it's important that 
whatever we do to help families, it should be fair and equitable for 
all. Everyone should be treated the same.
  Parents know that when their kids are small, before they start going 
to school, they have special needs. They are the most vulnerable during 
the ages of 0 to 4. Parents know that these are the formative years. As 
child psychologist Stanley Greenspan and other researchers have 
observed, intimate, ongoing interactions between children and their 
parents are essential for the healthy growth and development of the 
brain and mind, particularly during this critical period of life. This 
kind of time and care is needed if our children are going to grow up to 
be reflective citizens and, ultimately, if we are going to have a 
cohesive, functioning society. Dr. Greenspan and other researchers have 
found that it is also the crucial period when a child: develops a sense 
of empathy, compassion, trust and relating, develops the capacity to 
learn, develops the ability to form language and logical communication, 
creativity, early types of thinking and social skills, and develops 
awareness, attention, self-control, and a sense of self.

  It is because of the incredible importance of these early, preschool 
years that I am introducing this legislation. Our nation's preschool-

[[Page E518]]

aged children have special needs. Their parents are under tremendous 
pressures. We need to recognize this and help them every way we can.
  And there is one more thing that I think we need to think about as 
policymakers. Over and over again, American parents are saying that 
they need more time with their kids. Moms and dads need more options, 
more choices and more flexibility in the workplace. Over the years I 
have focused my work in Congress developing what I call ``family 
friendly'' policies that give moms and dads those choices. I have 
sponsored legislation and have long advocated these kinds of policies 
for the federal government. Some of these now in effect as public law 
are:
  1) Telecommuting. Allowing employees to work at home or at a central 
telecommuting center nearby equipped with a computer, phone, fax, and 
other office tools. That allows parents to do their jobs at home or 
near home and gives them more time to be with their families. The first 
federal telecommuting center opened several years ago in Winchester in 
my congressional district, and more are springing up as the idea takes 
hold.
  2) Job Sharing. Splitting job duties to allow employees who want to 
work part-time the opportunity to be in the workforce and bring home a 
paycheck, but also to have time to spend with their families, or get an 
advanced degree, or take care of an aging parent, or fulfill other 
needs.
  3) Leave Sharing. Allowing employees to donate annual leave to help a 
fellow employee who needs extra time off for their own health needs or 
to care for family members. It kindles the spirit of community by 
allowing employees to help out their fellow worker, and its costs the 
employer nothing.
  4) Child Care. Providing on-site or near-site child care centers in 
federal buildings. It was my legislation several years back that 
allowed child care centers to be housed in federal buildings to help 
federal employees and others with child care needs.
  I have also worked in Congress with others to implement for federal 
workers the policy of flextime--the staggering of work hours to allow 
one working parent to come in early while the other gets the kids off 
to school and comes in later. The earlybird gets off in time to be at 
home at the end of the school day so that the problem of ``latch-key 
children'' does not arise.
  Just as we have implemented these policies in the federal workplace, 
I think we in Congress need to talk about and to look at what we might 
be able to do to encourage employers in the private sector to give 
these kinds of choices and options to their employees as well. Maybe we 
ought to provide incentives or find ways to reward companies which 
provide more flexibility in the workplace for their employees.

  But here in Congress, let's not just expand more government programs. 
Let's give American families what they really want and need--their own 
money. Their own choices. Flexibility. Options. The time has come to 
give all taxpaying families with children broad-based tax reductions. I 
urge my colleagues to support this bill.

                               H.R. 3583

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Family Friendly Tax Relief 
     Act of 1998''.

     SEC. 2. $1,000 CHILD TAX CREDIT FOR CHILDREN UNDER AGE 5.

       (a) In General.--Section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 (relating to child tax credit) is amended by 
     redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (g) and 
     (h), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (e) the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(f) $1,000 Credit for Qualifying Children Under Age 5.--
       ``(1) In general.--Subsection (a) shall be applied by 
     substituting `$1,000' for `$500' with respect to any 
     qualifying child who has not attained the age of 5 as of the 
     close of the calendar year in which the taxable year of the 
     taxpayer begins.
       ``(2) Coordination with dependent care credit.--This 
     subsection shall apply to a taxpayer for a taxable year only 
     if the taxpayer elects not to have section 21 apply for such 
     year.''
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Subparagraph (I) of section 
     6213(g)(2) of such Code is amended by striking ``section 
     24(e)'' and inserting ``section 24(f)''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     1997.

     SEC. 3. CHILD TAX CREDIT ALLOWED IN DETERMINING ALTERNATIVE 
                   MINIMUM TAX LIABILITY.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 26 of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 
     ``(other than the credit allowed by section 24)'' after 
     ``credits allowed by this subpart''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 24 of such Code is 
     amended by inserting after subsection (f) (as added by 
     section 2) the following new subsection:
       ``(g) Limitation Based on Amount of Tax.--The aggregate 
     credit allowed by this section for the taxable year shall not 
     exceed the sum of--
       ``(1) the taxpayer's regular tax liability for the taxable 
     year reduced by the sum of the credits allowed by sections 
     21, 22, 23, 25, and 25A, plus
       ``(2) the tax imposed by section 55 for such taxable 
     year.''
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     1997.

     

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