This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/25/marco-rubio-tax-break-plan-employers-paid-family-leave

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Marco Rubio proposes tax break for employers who give paid family leave Marco Rubio proposes tax break for employers who give paid family leave
(about 2 hours later)
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio wants to give a tax break to employers who give their workers paid family leave. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Friday unveiled a proposal that would give a tax break to employers offering their workers paid family leave.
Related: Hold the applause for Netflix: parental leave policy a tiny step not a giant leapRelated: Hold the applause for Netflix: parental leave policy a tiny step not a giant leap
The Florida senator said he will introduce his plan on Friday morning when he speaks before the Values Voter Summit in Washington. He is among several Republican presidential hopefuls scheduled to address the summit, an annual gathering of social conservatives. The Florida senator announced his plan at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, an annual meeting of social conservatives. Under Rubio’s proposal, businesses that provide at least four weeks of paid family leave would be given a 25% tax credit.
Under his proposal, Rubio would give businesses a 25% tax credit for providing at least four weeks of paid family leave. It would be limited to 12 weeks of leave and $4,000 per employee. “This won’t solve every scheduling conflict between work and family life. No policy can,” Rubio said.
Federal law allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off without losing their jobs to care for a new child, recover from illness or care for a sick family member. “But it will help ensure that our people don’t have to sit behind a desk while the most profound moments of their lives pass them by. And it will help our businesses expand and create new jobs by allowing them to keep more of their money rather than send it to Washington.”
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton has proposed paid family leave, noting that the US is among the world’s only advanced countries not to offer the benefit. Rubio’s plan – the first such proposal released by a Republican candidate – is based on legislation in the Senate known as the Strong Families Act and co-sponsored by Senator Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, and Angus King, an independent senator from Maine.
Rubio says Clinton’s approach is wrong because it would “place crippling requirements on private companies” instead of “creatively applying our free-enterprise principles”. The tax break under Rubio’s proposal would be capped at 12 weeks and $4,000 per employee, according to a fact sheet released by his campaign. The tax break would also be adaptable to part-time work and other employee arrangements, the release said.
“Our policies should help workers, not cost them their jobs,” he says in prepared remarks. Rubio took a jab at Hillary Clinton in his speech, referring to the Democratic frontrunner for president as sticking to “outdated ways of thinking”.
“They say the only way to solve this problem is to raise taxes, grow government, and place crippling requirements on private companies,” Rubio said of Clinton and current leaders in Washington.
The plan is the latest in a series of policy proposals rolled out by Rubio as he seeks the Republican nomination. The senator has also detailed pieces of his agenda for higher education, energy and healthcare.
Rubio routinely mentions the struggles of middle- and working-class families while on the campaign trail, where he has quietly pitched his candidacy as a means of restoring the American Dream. Many Republicans believe the senator’s background as the son of immigrants who worked as a bartender and a maid, makes him uniquely relatable as a candidate at a time when the economy continues to rank as a top priority among voters.
Clinton and other Democratic candidates such as the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and the former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley have backed paid family leave plans that mirror proposals sponsored by Democrats in Congress.
The Democratic plans would mandate paid family leave covered under payroll tax contributions from employees.