Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/283976 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 23-381
Publisher: 
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI
Abstract: 
The Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC) allows households to receive tax credits for certain expenses associated with the care of a spouse or adult dependent who is incapable of self care, but very few childless households claim the credit. We examine the value of the CDCC for qualifying households caring for adults. We find that, as of 2016, more than 10 percent of individuals aged 50 to 65 had a coresident spouse or parent likely to be a qualifying individual for the CDCC. We document how state and federal CDCC benefits decrease post-tax costs of typical caregiving services, such as hiring a home health aide, across states. We find that a temporary expansion during 2021 led to substantial decreases in post-tax care costs but generated considerable differences in benefits across households with spouse and nonspouse qualifying individuals. We discuss expected effects on taxpayers' behavior of permanently expanding the CDCC and find that making the credit refundable would nearly double the number of eligible spousal caregivers aged 50 to 65, with eligibility rates increasing substantially among female, nonwhite, and lowincome caregivers.
Subjects: 
Adult care
Child and Dependent Care Credit
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
participation
eligibility
JEL: 
H24
J14
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
2.81 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.