The Proposal

The Proposal

Provide a significant income boost to working families through a targeted Working Parents Tax Credit. 

Expand Rx Kids, a first-of-its-kind program that provides cash payments to new mothers and their babies.  

Tackle the child care crisis from both the demand and supply side. 

Affordable and accessible child care… 

✔ Provides families with stability

✔ Drives economic growth 

✔ Counteracts inflation 

Policy Spotlight 

Working Parents Tax Credit 

Anyone who works hard should be able to get ahead in Michigan, but too many working families are still struggling to make ends meet. To help families keep up with the rising cost of parenting, we’re fighting to provide a tax credit of $5,500 for working families with children under the age of 3 years old.   

This Working Parents Tax Credit would help parents keep more of what they earn, because our kids are priceless and everything else is too expensive.  

“Parents need more than budgeting hacks — they need real solutions. With inflation on the rise and birth rates declining, it’s more important than ever to take steps to ease the financial stress associated with raising a child. Cutting taxes for parents would put more money in their pocket to afford necessities, plan for the future, and give their kids a better opportunity to succeed.”

– Sen. Kevin Hertel

Building on Success 

Curing Childhood Poverty with Rx Kids 

Rx Kids is the first program of its kind in the U.S. to uplift babies and young children out of poverty and into a lifetime of better health, equity, and opportunity. Launched in January of 2024 with the help of state dollars secured by Sen. John Cherry, Sen. Sylvia Santana and their fellow Senate Democrats, Rx Kids has already served more than 1,500 families in Flint and provided more than $6.7 million in cash payments to support Flint moms and babies. It has also been implemented in Kalamazoo and the Upper Peninsula, boasting widespread and bipartisan support and having a direct, positive impact on these communities. 

Now, we’re looking to build on that success and expand this program statewide to break the cycle of childhood poverty and give new Michigan moms and their babies a fair shot at a good life. 

“Thank you, Rx Kids, for everything. Preparing to bring a baby into this world with a low income can be very hard, but you made it easy for me and my family. This helped me spend more time with my baby and enjoy her growing up.”

– A new mom and participant in the Rx Kids program in Flint, Michigan. 

Breaking Down the Building Blocks

Addressing Our Child Care Crisis 

Michigan is facing a child care crisis. To make it more affordable for families and more sustainable for child care professionals and entrepreneurs, we propose: 

• Codifying the innovative bipartisan program, Tri-Share, that shares the cost of child care equally among a person’s employer, the state, and the employee. 

• Tying the Child Care Reimbursement Rate to inflation to provide certainty and consistency to providers. 

• Updating licensing requirements for child care centers and removing burdensome barriers to opening and operating centers, especially in-home care. 

Affordable and accessible child care… 

✔ Provides families with stability

✔ Drives economic growth 

✔ Counteracts inflation 

Make Your Voice Heard and Become a Citizen Co-Sponsor 

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to get a policy proposal signed into law. Add your name as a supporter of the Senate Democrats’ Building Blocks plan and help us build a Michigan where families have the support and resources they need to set their children up for success. 

Michigan Family Newsroom 

Stay up to date with the latest work Senate Democrats are doing to support Michigan families.