This is something NJSACC hopes you will take a moment to send this off to our NJ Congressman, Bill Pascrell, Jr. of the 8th District .(Passaic and Essex County). It does not matter what county your program is in – this will only take a moment to cut and paste and email to support this
Your programs are funded by families. In these tough times- can we support families
See below:
Dear Colleague,
We’re pleased to let you know that on May 7, 2009, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) introduced H.R. 2298 to increase the cap on Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSA). Instituted by Congress more than two decades ago, the $5,000 limit has not kept pace with inflation or the cost of child care to working families. This new legislation would increase the limit to $7,500 and index the limit to inflation.
With the increase in the cap to $7,500, employees will realize an additional savings of $550 – $1,300 a year, bringing their total savings to $1,650 – $3,900 a year on their child care or dependent care expenses because they do not have to pay federal income taxes or Social Security and Medicare taxes on the funds they’ve set aside. For lower-wage employees, participation in DCFSA may help them qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or may increase their EITC’s because participation lowers the taxable income used to calculate eligibility for the EITC and to calculate the amount of the EITC.
Companies and organizations will also benefit. Since an organization does not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on funds that their employees set aside in DCFSA’s, they save 7.65% of total employee contributions. This means that for employees who increases their DCFSA set-aside to $7,500, a company will save almost an additional $200 per employee. For a company with average participation in this program and a workforce of 20,000, the savings would be approximately $230,000 annually.
Moving forward, we plan to continue to build support for this DCFSA bill within the House Ways and Means Committee and the whole house so the bill is uniquely positioned as a non-controversial, bi-partisan amendment or addition to any appropriate larger tax vehicles the committee considers this Congress. In the Senate, we have secured similar DCFSA language in bills introduced by Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who both sit on the Senate Finance Committee. The bill numbers are S.988 and S.997. In the Snowe bill (S.997) unused DCFSA funds are able to be rolled over to the next tax year.
Below is a sample support e-mail and the text of H.R. 2298. Please use the sample e-mail to send your support on DCFSA to Members on the House of Representatives Ways & Means Committee. I have attached a list of Members who have yet to co-sponsor this bill. It would also be helpful to contact your local representative to support the bill, even if they are not on the committee.
Please contact me (judith.presser@wfd.com) or Tiffany Westover-Kernan at twestover-kernan@cvworkingfamilies.org if you have any questions or suggestions.
Thanks so much for your interest and support for working families.
Judith Presser
Senior Consultant
WFD Consulting
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458
617 219-8722
617-219-8760 (FAX)
SAMPLE LETTER JUST CUT AND PASTE AND FILL IN TO BE SENT TO :
EMAIL ADDRESS: Jasmine.vasquez@mail.house.gov
Dear Congressman Pascrell, Jr:
I would like to request your support for H.R. 2298, the “Expanding Dependent and Child Care Act of 2009.”
This legislation would increase the limits on Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSA) to $7,500,
from $5,000 and index the limit to inflation. This increase makes child care and dependent care more affordable to thousands of employees who use this tax-free vehicle to subsidize expenses incurred by their children, elder parents, or other dependents.
We urge you to support this legislation because with an increase to $7,500, an employee can save $1,600 – $3,000 a year on their child care or dependent care expenses. For employees, participation in DCFSA may help them qualify for additional benefits such as the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or may increase their EITC’s because participation lowers the taxable income used to calculate eligibility for the EITC and to calculate the amount of the EITC.
As an organization committed to improving the lives of America’s working families, we believe that the DCFSA program is an excellent example of how companies—large or small–and other organizations, can support their employees and their families. I urge you to support this bill as it moves through the Ways and Means Committee. With the help of Congress, organizations like us that provide afterschool programs for children and youth of America’s working families we can help working class Americans afford quality dependent care services.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Title & Organization]
ADDRESS