OPINION: Stay-at-Home Mothers Should Get a Tax Credit
For most of American history, a mother staying home with her young children was an ordinary reality. Today, for millions of families, it has become a luxury.
The federal government should offer a tax credit to families with a stay-at-home mother and children under six—not because it grows GDP, but because parents deserve the freedom to raise their own children.
Parents spend thousands of dollars every year on child care. Between babysitters, day care and preschool, families face an average annual cost exceeding $13,000 per child. Mothers often feel pressured to return to work as soon as maternity leave ends, believing they have no other choice.
Under this proposal, a family with children under six would qualify if the mother earned no employment income and served as the children’s primary caregiver. The credit would be worth $10,000 per family. If eight million families claimed the full amount, its gross annual cost would be approximately $80 billion. The actual cost would depend on eligibility requirements and how families responded to the policy.
Economic growth does not always translate into financial security for individual families. In 2024, 27 percent of American adults reported either “just getting by” or finding it difficult to get by, according to the Federal Reserve. Economic policy should recognize that families value more than income and consumption.
Research on parental employment and child development is mixed. However, one study by economist Christopher Ruhm found that extensive maternal employment during a child’s first three years was associated with modest reductions in later verbal, reading and mathematics scores, particularly when mothers worked longer hours.
This tax credit would give mothers more freedom to spend time with their children while helping families avoid substantial child-care expenses. Child Care Aware of America reports that the national average price of child care reached $13,184 in 2025. A $10,000 credit would make staying home a realistic option for more families—not an expectation imposed on every mother.
I understand that this proposal may seem risky. It is rare to see an economic policy whose principal purpose is not increasing GDP. But the better country that many Americans envision does not revolve entirely around dollars and cents. It revolves around family.
The question is not whether every mother should stay home. The question is whether mothers who want to stay home should be able to do so without sacrificing their family’s financial security.
