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Op-Ed: Keep Fighting for Missouri’s Working Class: Family Caregivers Need Tax Relief and Congressman Smith is Ready to Lead the Charge

After being selected to continue serving as the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman for the 119th Congress, our Congressman, Jason Smith made it clear he was ready to keep fighting for Missouri’s working class and lead the charge in delivering tax relief. In Missouri, we couldn’t agree more with his statement that “we have before us a tremendous opportunity and a responsibility to deliver for working families and small businesses across America who are crying out for relief after four years of rising prices and crippling economic uncertainty. That begins by building on the success of the 2017 Trump tax cuts and working with President Trump.”

Here in the Show-Me State, we know that actions speak louder than words. That is why I’m optimistic that Congressman Smith will work to deliver on President Trump’s promise to cut taxes for America’s family caregivers who assist their older parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, and other loved ones so they can live independently in their own homes.  Already, Smith is leading the effort to evaluate tax proposals and build consensus around policies that will provide the most significant economic relief for Missourians and Americans across the country.

After years of record inflation and an out-of-control cost-of-living crisis, simply renewing the expiring 2017 tax cuts won’t do enough to put money back into the pockets of working Missourians and make America’s economy great again for the working class. The 119th Congress will need to not only renew but also expand the Trump tax cuts with the addition of new policies. And few of the proposals under consideration carry such broad support or stand to have such a widespread impact on Missouri’s working families, rural seniors, and taxpayers as the proposed tax relief for family caregivers.

Family caregivers across the country provide an estimated $600 billion in unpaid labor each year – a cost that would at least partially fall on taxpayer-funded programs if it weren’t for America’s 48 million family caregivers who help seniors live independently in their homes. In Missouri alone, more than 800,000 family caregivers hold up our broken long-term care system providing an estimated $11.6 billion in unpaid labor as they care for older parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, and other loved ones. Additionally, family caregivers typically spend over $7,200 a year out of their own pockets on care-related costs as they help loved ones with everything from medications and medical care to meals, bathing, transportation, and much more. These out-of-pocket costs in the face of skyrocketing prices of groceries, gas, and other everyday goods compound the need for tax relief.

Simply put, Missouri needs our family caregivers, and they need a tax credit. Thankfully, Congressman Smith is prepared to lead the fight to turn President Trump’s tax promise into law and deliver for the “Show-Me” state by showing our family caregivers some much-needed tax relief.