Daycare Tax Credit for Military Families Endorsed by House A&B Subcommittee

OKLAHOMA CITY (16 February 2017) – Legislation to create an income tax credit for daycare expenses incurred by families of deployed military personnel cleared a House of Representatives panel recently.

House Bill 1312 by Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City, was endorsed by the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Finance by a vote of 7-0 Feb. 15. The measure now advances to the full A&B Committee for consideration.

The bill would authorize a tax credit for daycare expenditures on a qualifying dependent child during any period when a member of the armed services is deployed “to another location in support of combat, contingency operation, or natural disaster” for 30 or more consecutive days, during which time the service member is unable to be accompanied by his/her family at government expense.

The proposed credit could not be used to reduce the claimant’s tax liability “to less than zero,” HB 1312 decrees.

Also, the legislation would apply to dependent children 12 or younger at the time the daycare expenses were paid, and permissible expenses would be limited to the care of a child “for not more than 12 hours per day.”

The bill defines “servicemember” to mean a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Reserve Corps of the nation’s Armed Forces, or the Oklahoma National Guard.

“I believe the tax loss to the state treasury from my proposal would be relatively low, but it would nevertheless be a valuable benefit to military families whenever a parent is deployed to a combat zone or a disaster area for an extended period,” Walke said.

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MIKE W. RAY
Media Director, Democratic Caucus
Oklahoma House of Representatives
(405) 962-7819 office
(405) 245-4411 mobile