In a recent op-ed, Rep. Scanlon, who represents Branford and Guilford, wrote: "The cost of raising a child is an incredible and growing burden on working- and middle-class families here in Connecticut. These costs even prompt some parents to consider whether they’d be better off caring for their children full-time instead of working. That impossible choice and burden, which falls disproportionately on women and specifically women of color, has obvious short- and long-term negative ramifications for the parent leaving the workforce."

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of infant care in our state is $15,501, or $1,292 per month. That represents nearly 20 percent of a median family’s income in Connecticut, or nearly 75 percent of a minimum wage worker’s income. And that’s just child care. Once you factor in food, formula, diapers, wipes and clothes it’s easy to see how child-related costs dominate the household budgets of growing families regardless of their income.

"My proposal would give each Connecticut household making less than $200,000 a year a tax credit up to 30 percent of the federal credit or $600 per child up to three children. That means the average working- and middle-class family with two children making the median income would be able to take up to $1,200 off of their state income tax, which would represent the largest tax cut for working families in Connecticut history."

Read Rep. Scanlon's entire op-ed here.