At the heart of a proposed tax to fund child care in Larimer County is this: Who benefits?
The Early Childhood Center of Larimer County is proposing a quarter-cent sales and use tax to boost child care access and affordability over the next 15 years. If Larimer County commissioners agree to put it on the November ballot, the tax would add 25 cents to a $100 purchase and raise millions to boost care.
Here's a look at the reasons some don't support it and others do, and the angles to consider.
What exactly is this tax going to fund, and how?
One question from Douglas O., asked: “What exactly is this providing?”
The Early Childhood Center's presentation says it seeks to:
Increase access to quality, affordable child care for thousands of families in Larimer County;
Improve provider compensation and preparation, making child care an attractive profession;
Work toward ensuring that no family in Larimer County is paying more than 10% of their annual income on childcare costs.
Margaret H. asked: "How would the revenue from this tax be distributed? Would it go to families through a need-based application? To child care providers as an augmentation to payment received from parents? Would it be a tax credit to parents of children of a certain age? My vote depends on how the tax is to be distributed."
Here's what we know:
Up to $10 million would be distributed to families to offset the cost of child care tuition (up to 7,000 children under 5 would receive tuition offsets — 60% of estimated need)
Up to $7 million would be invested into the early childhood workforce through recruitment and retention strategies and salary supplements (About 1,000 workers would see their income increase, and 85% of programs would receive support)
Up to $2 million invested into capital projects to increase the number of programs in Larimer County through new builds and renovation of existing spaces.
Some say it's about personal responsibility, while others cite a community benefit
For some, the idea of a tax to fund child care feels like a benefit primarily for parents, and they might view it as a positive because it helps parents, or as a negative if they believe parents should have planned better for costs of raising their children. They might even worry that it could lead to people exploiting that system for personal gain.
Others might focus on benefits to the child, nothing that all children deserve a home that can provide adequately for their needs, regardless of their parents' ability to afford it.
And still others focus the idea that a child care tax could be a public good. All of those views were represented in responses to our question.
"Why must people who do not have children at home ... pay for those that do?" David A. said. "Why do we think the government needs to keep looking for problems to solve by taking money from people who make one choice and give it to people who make another one?"
John M. countered that idea, saying the cost of not doing so has a wider impact: "We all must pay for educating the local children because we all must live with the consequences of an uneducated community."
The Early Childhood Council says the first five years are vital for child development that leads to thriving in learning, behavior and health, ranging from "short-term benefits, such as increased school readiness and higher academic achievement scores, to long-term effects into adulthood, including higher wages and lower rates of arrests," according to a report for Early Milestones Colorado, a nonprofit focused on boosting child success.
That report cites "savings through reduced spending for remedial programs in K-12 education, unemployment, criminal justice and welfare and teen pregnancy."
"Whether you agree with the concept of subsidized child care or not, you're going to pay for it," Sue B. said. "The lack of affordable child care forces parents to work part time or not at all, lowering the number of people in the workforce and thus raising costs." Sue said the costs of child care are rising to a point where "even couples making good money struggle to pay child care. 'I did it, why can't you?' doesn't work."
The Early Childhood Council estimates the average cost of child care in Larimer County is $199 to $324 weekly, depending on age, which equates to $9,500 to $15,500 annually per child. "That means the average Larimer County family (median household income of $75,332 per the Colorado Department of Labor and Unemployment) spends between 12%-20% of their annual income on child care for one child" while "the U.S. Department of Human Services recommends that child care costs should not exceed more than 7% of a family's budget."
Several people who joined in the conversation or comments on other related stories noted that they didn't receive help paying for their own children's child care and never would have expected to.
But Adam U. said he believes "that mindset not only harms families and kids, it harms the well-being of the community. When the lack of affordable child care forces parents who would like to work to instead stay out of the workforce, and we decide we're not going to enact widely supported solutions to address the problem, we're creating artificial roadblocks to shared public good. What sense does that make?"
Mike B said: "The benefits to our community, and to society in general, of purposeful childcare, are enormous. Think about this for a moment — what is a higher priority?"
Child care touches home, community economics
Another angle to explore is whether and how much obtaining quality and affordable child care affects helps employees and employers.
One viewpoint is that if more people with a desire to work outside the home have access to affordable child care, that frees them to join the workforce. And a stronger workforce is good news for employers.
"One of the biggest barriers to stable employment for low-income families is child care — both affordability and availability," Shauna S. said. "But middle income families feel the pinch, too, as well as businesses at all levels who are struggling with labor shortages. American workforce and business leaders have identified the lack of affordable, available child care is a key business challenge, threatening and limiting U.S. businesses' bottom line performance, and impacting U.S. economic health and competitiveness."
Access to child care has been a key component of Talent 2.0, a team "assembled to address the challenges of workforce development and accessibility to workplaces" in the Fort Collins-Loveland area.
The collaboration of Northern Colorado businesses, government agencies, nonprofits and chambers of commerce sees the issue as a major barrier to attracting and retaining top talent. In a 2019 report, it released a list of recommendations. One of them was to "broaden and develop new and diverse funding streams for all aspects of early care and education, including public, private and philanthropic resources."
"We have to be careful," said Heather O'Hayre, with Larimer County Human Services, in a 2019 Coloradoan article about the child care shortage. "You can't (only) run a tax initiative on the ballot to fund child care."
Still, the Early Childhood Council estimates the lack of access is estimated to cost Larimer County nearly $100 million annually in lost earnings, productivity and revenue. And for parents, the cost makes it harder to afford other basic needs.
But k. k. argued that a tax would actually make it harder for families and do the opposite of its intended effect: "The bigger issue is overreach by the government. The extra 'fees' (taxes without the consent of the people) that our local and state government have and continue to impose on its citizens are crushing families. Perhaps, if we, the citizens demanded a smaller government (and therefore less waste), the over burdened taxpayer could focus on providing for their own family."
Several participants shared concerns about increased reliance on government, government using the money inefficiently or unwisely, and too much taxation generally.
"The people that are taxed to pay for it will get very few of the benefits," Ronald G. said. "We can't fund every social program on the wish list through taxes. It just isn't feasible, and quite frankly I'm tapped out."
But will a tax have a big enough impact to be worth it?
It's important to note that the tax would do more than simply provide tuition assistance. It would also invest in the early childhood workforce through recruitment and retention strategies and salary supplements. And it would provide funds for capital projects to increase the number of programs.
The Early Childhood Council notes these pressures on the system:
Licensed capacity for child care is 25% of projected demand for infants and toddlers
Early educators make an average of $13-$15 an hour. The poverty rate for early educators in Colorado is 15.1%. "At this rate, many providers are actually eligible for public assistance."
70% of local child care program directors have reported difficulty finding qualified staff.
Douglas O. contends: "It’s not enough to do anything except fill the existing daycares with government subsidized tuition."
"Such a minute tax with such meaningful opportunities and outcomes is worth it to help U.S. businesses of all sizes maintain a strong, vital economy and be competitive, not to mention the positive impact on families and children," Douglas said. "I agree that throwing money at a problem will usually solve the problem. But you have to throw enough dollars to finish the job. This doesn’t do that."
He contends $2 million for facilities simply will not be enough to make an impact.
And Douglas expressed concerns about whether it will help or eventually hinder access because addressing the affordability of this issue will lead to increased enrollment.
"Like health care, day care is three-pronged problem — access, quality and cost. This likely addresses cost for many qualifying families. It’s going to exacerbate the problem of access."
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Larimer County sales tax for child care: A discussion on who benefits
