Last month during the Kansas Legislature’s special budget session, one contentious issue in the budget bill was doubling the state’s child care tax credit. Rep. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson, made comments saying the tax credit served as an “incentive” for mothers to enter the workforce and weaken “traditional families.
” Justifiably, he was blasted by colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Taking such an opposition to the child care tax credit is not only “offensive” — as stated by Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover — it ignores the hard reality that Kansas families face. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the cost of day care is unaffordable for 92% of families in the state.
A shortage of child care has continued to drive up costs. 104 of the state’s 105 counties have a higher demand than availability. The supply and demand issue raises child care costs and prices families — especially mothers as women often make lower wages than men — out of the workforce.
Infant care costs are 28.4% higher than full-time college tuition at an in-state public university, and child care costs for kids young than 4 are about equal to full-time public university tuition costs. Infant care is about 12.
3% higher than Kansas’ average rent costs. Kansas’ child care costs as a percentage of workers’ salary is one of the highest in the country. According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, an average single adult Kansan with one child would need to make $34.
03 per hour to earn a living wage. A living wage is defined as the amount a worker needs to make to meet their basic needs — food, child care, health care, housing, transportation, taxes and other such essential items as clothing, personal care items and broadband. A household with two working adults and one child would need both adults to make at least $19.
29/hour to meet their basic needs. Steffen’s ideal two-adult, one-child household where only one adult earns an income would need to earn $33.72/hour, even while spending $0 on child care.
According to the Kansas Department of Labor’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) report from 2023, the median wage of Kansas workers (hourly and salaried) across all industries was $21.76 per hour. And 75% of all workers made less than $31.
09/hour, per OEWS. In other words, more than three-quarters of Kansas workers don’t make enough income to afford their basic needs in a two-adult, single-income household with one child. The data is clear: A vast majority of Kansas families do not make enough money to meet their basic needs, with or without having to pay for child care.
Child care is not a luxury for Kansas families. It’s a necessity. Steffen’s remarks highlight a troubling disconnect from the economic realities facing Kansans.
By dismissing child care tax credits as an incentive that could supposedly undermine “traditional families,” he not only ignored the overwhelming financial strain that child care costs impose on households across the state but also neglected the critical role that affordable child care plays in enabling parents — especially mothers — to participate fully in the workforce and public life. Thankfully for Kansas families, the proposal to double the child care tax credit ultimately passed with bipartisan support as part of the larger tax bill. The state child care credit is now 50% of the comparable federal credit, adding some relief for many families across the state.
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