Taxing Care: enhancing the childcare time in the dual earner era

Joris Ghysels, Gerlinde Verbist and Josefine Vanhille

No 1001, Working Papers from Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp

Abstract: This article introduces the idea of a childcare time benefit that reconciles three ambitions: to reach a high level of labour market participation, to revalue parental childcare time and to enhance the freedom to choose in the reconciliation of work and family life. The proposed benefit is based on the pattern of effective childcare time in society, that declines with the ageing of the children. This decline defines a clear path over time with increasing monetary incentives to (re)turn to the labour market. Furthermore, the benefit is unconditional and, thus, does not direct parents in their choice between parental care and care services. Simulation of first round effects of the benefit on Belgian households suggests a disincentive for life-long retreat from the labour market, while offering monetary gains for homemakers with young children. Moreover, single parents see their poverty risk decline by more than a quarter.

Keywords: childcare; equal opportunities; income taxes; parental time allocation; policy simulation; social justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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