Rep Binsfeld on Child & Dependent Care Credit Expansion

I am happy to see that we're going to get some bipartisan support on this bill and yes I do believe that when we think about child care it is something that we can all get behind that said though I have to admit that when I was at the point of having my children it never dawned on me when that was happening to think boy I really wish my neighbor or that retired couple down the street or that hardworking family should really help me with my daycare expense see when I was looking for daycare back in 2007 I have numbers that show that in my community at that time for every daycare provider for every one provider there was a need of 28 children today in that same Community I'm actually happy to report that for every one daycare provider there's still 21 children but it's actually gone down so interestingly enough as I stand before you today hearing about this crisis and how we have to bail out our daycares no one called it a crisis when I was looking for it in 2007 this has been an ongoing problem for our state forever and I'm not saying we shouldn't be looking for options but we also have to look at the reality that looking to our neighbors looking to that childless couple to help with our daycare is a bit of a Reach people on fixed incomes don't want to say let me pay for your daycare when they had to scrap and save to pay their own I didn't have children with the intent that my community had to raise them I had them so I could raise them they're my responsibility and I don't want to lose sight that they are still a parents responsibility as somebody who came out of small business I knew that as I planned that business I had to make sure that I could make ends meet and there were tough decisions that had to be made from payroll to to investments in that business and and I understand daycare is a top priority and difficult to manage but it's not impossible so I ask our Day daycare providers to understand that it's not the burden of the taxpayer to fund them yes I understand our federal government came sweeping in with these dollars where did they go if it was such an important program where are they now now they want it to be the state's burden the taxpayers burden of Wisconsin I'm proud of this legislation because it provides a direct payment back to the parents who are affected this tax allows instead of $3,000 for a single child to go to $10,000 in claims from $6,000 up to $20,000 in claims this is real money and it is direct to the families who are affected I agree we need to work together but we also have to be realistic on behalf of every taxpayer in Wisconsin to understand what our responsibilities are as they come to us and not make them the burden of everybody else thank you Mr Speaker