Utah child care facilities could get tax credit for expanding to their business
Feb 22, 2025, 6:00 PM | Updated: 7:18 pm
FILE - Children at Creative Learning Academy in Salt Lake City listen as Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson reads a book to them on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. Henderson announced a bonus to youth and early care workforce offered through the Office of Child Care. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — If Utah child care facilities add-on to their buildings to accommodate more children, they could get a tax credit.
Republican Rep. Jason Thompson said his bill addresses the supply side of child care, which hasn’t been focused on as much in other legislation.
“We are meeting %14 of the need in the state, we can do better,” said Thompson.
Related: Watering Utah’s child care ‘deserts’
If a child care facility adds infrastructure to allow for more kids, they could get a 20% tax credit. Thompson said the lack of childcare available in Utah is a big problem and we need to incentivize business owners to help address the need.
“If we can give a little poke and prod to the private sector here, for the private sector to step up and to make the investment,” said Thompson.
Thompson also wanted to assure the committee there are guard-rails in place to make sure the tax credit is not abused.
“This makes sure that only businesses building out infrastructure to increase supply for childcare in the state will benefit or qualify for this credit,” said Thompson.
Related: You could be living in a child care desert. Here’s what that means
The bill passed yesterday in committee. Thompson says this is a step in the right direction to address the supply side of the child care shortage
in Utah.
Thompson said this could not only benefit families who are struggling to find child care, it could also bring in more income tax dollars to the state by allowing more people to work.
