Already, adoption agencies are 
!
“The House Republican tax reform bill would completely eliminate the adoption tax credit, which has been in the tax code since 1997. It was a bipartisan achievement pushed through by former Texas Republican Rep. Bill Archer, who was chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Designed to help cover “reasonable and necessary adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, and other expenses,” the credit is available for up to $13,460 per child.
Some employers also offer adoption assistance in the form of financial aid and paid leave time. As of now, this type of assistance is tax-exempt, but the proposed bill would make such benefits subject to taxation.
The bill would also make adoption assistance from employers — which usually takes the form of financial aid and paid leave time — taxable.
Advocates for adoption reacted with scorn to the Republican plan.
“RESOLVE and its advocates are outraged at this action,” Barbara Collura, president and chief executive officer of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, said in a statement. “The Adoption Tax Credit, a credit for middle-income Americans to help offset their costs associated with adopting a child, could be gone.”
Republicans cut a number of tax credits to bring down the cost of the bill, offsetting the cost of tax cuts for the very rich. For instance, the bill also calls for reducing the corporate tax rate to just 20 percent.
By supporting the tax framework, GOP lawmakers have made a value judgment: Reducing taxes for the wealthiest citizens is more important than helping defray the costs of adoption for Americans. And as adoptions become more difficult, the number of abortions is likely to rise.“
House GOP Simultaneously Pushes for New Abortion Ban and End to Adoption Tax Credit
[The Intercept 11/3/17 by Zaid Jilani]
“Rep. Kevin Brady, the chief writer of House Republicans’ tax overhaul plan, is the father of two adopted sons.
He’s called his children “the biggest blessing we could ever have.”
So adoption advocates and groups supporting foster children and orphans hoped Brady (R-Tex.) would work to preserve a popular adoption tax credit as he plotted a major tax overhaul.
The credit, capped at $13,460, is aimed at helping families afford adoption, a fraught process that can drain finances along with emotions.
But those hopes were dashed when details of the GOP tax proposal were unveiled Thursday, leading to a mix of surprise and disappointment.
“If they want to promote family-friendly policies, who needs help more than a child without a family?” said Mary Boo, executive director of the North American Council on Adoptable Children.
“This will make it tougher to adopt. Period,” Schylar Baber, executive director of Voice for Adoption, said.
Brady defended the decision to cut the adoption tax credit by pointing out that some families can’t claim the credit because they don’t pay enough in taxes or they don’t itemize their tax bill.
“This credit is not working,” Brady said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Brady said the overall effect of the Republican’s tax plan — which combines cuts to individual and corporate tax rates with the loss of certain tax breaks — would be “giving families more in their paychecks, especially the middle-class families that are crucial for adoption.”
He also pointed out the child tax credit would grow by $600 to $1,600 per child, aiding families whether they adopt or not.
“I think this is a better approach for the vast majority of Americans who are left behind,” Brady said.
But adoption advocates said the proposed changes to the U.S. tax system would end up discouraging adoption.
“It doesn’t balance out the loss and doesn’t act as an incentive,” said Adam Pertman, president of the National Center for Adoption and Permanency.
Jedd Medefind, president of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, said he’s seen the tax credit bridge the difference between families being able to move forward with adoption and backing out. He expects that there will be fewer adoptions if the credit is eliminated.
About 120,000 children are adopted each year. Some of them are stepchildren finalizing the process. Some don’t have parents. Many are taken from foster care.
The adoption tax credit is designed to help families pay for adoption fees or help them afford taking in two children to avoid splitting up siblings. It was created in 1996 and has an inflation-adjusted lifetime cap of $13,460. It’s not available to families making more than $242,000 a year — that’s why, speaking at a Heritage Foundation event last year, Brady said he and his wife did not take the credit when they adopted their boys.
The credit’s cost is small compared with the tax plan’s projected cost of $1.5 trillion to the debt over a decade. The government lost $355 million in revenue because of the credit in 2014, the most recent year data was available. Fewer than 74,000 taxpayers claimed the credit.
Baber, of Voice for Adoption, said the tax credit’s loss would be especially hard on foster-care adoptions, where it becomes more difficult to find homes for older children. [??????]
[“According to statistics stated on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website, the average cost of adopting from foster care can run anywhere between $0 to $2,500.”Show Hope,2014]
“So, the question is, who is not going to get adopted because of this?” said Baber, who spent most of his childhood in foster care in Montana before finding a permanent home.
Adoption groups plan to push hard to save the adoption tax credit. And Brady said he is open to talking with them.
Brady might also need to talk with some House Republicans. U.S. Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) said on Twitter on Friday that the adoption tax credit needs to be included in the tax bill: “Providing a home for a child that is unwanted or special needs is pro-life!””
Why top tax writer Rep. Kevin Brady, father of two adopted kids, didn’t protect the adoption tax break
[Washington Post 11/3/17 by Todd C. Frankel]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: I guess that adoption agencies got their way with this one!
“House Republicans reversed course Thursday on their plans to scrap the adoption tax credit. Kevin Brady, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, issued a statement that an amendment to the committee’s bill would restore the adoption credit and make other tweaks to the bill. The announcement came after news broke that the Senate GOP would keep the adoption tax credit in its tax reform bill.
The House GOP’s initial proposal to nix the credit was met with strong backlash from a wide array of voices within the Republican party, including pro-life leaders, social conservatives, and other elected Republicans.
As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported over the weekend, while adoption can cost an American family $20,000 to $50,000 in legal, medical, and other expenses, the federal government provides a child tax credit of up to $13,570 on eligible adoption expenses. The credit is generally nonrefundable, meaning that it can only be used to offset income tax liability, and it begins to phase out for families earning more than $203,000. (The credit may be fully refundable if an American is adopting a special-needs child.)
House speaker Paul Ryan defended the decision to get rid of the credit on Wednesday. “It is a tax credit that goes to higher income individuals. Middle and low income people don’t get it today,” Ryan told the Washington Examiner. According to the Tax Policy Center, the credit provides $2,500 on average to families earning $50,000 to $75,000 and $5,000 on average to families earning $75,000 to $100,000.
While the adoption tax credit can help offset the huge up-front costs of adopting a child, it costs taxpayers little. Annual expenditures equal less than 0.01 percent of the federal budget. [so what?]The House GOP’s proposed changes to the estate tax alone would cost nearly 50 times more than keeping the estate tax.
And adoption advocates argue that the credit doesn’t even cost taxpayers that much once you factor in how much the government saves by getting children out of foster care and into permanent families.”[Again, this is NOT for foster care adoptions , because as I said earlier “According to statistics stated on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website, the average cost of adopting from foster care can run anywhere between $0 to $2,500.”Show Hope,2014. This is for INTERNATIONAL and DOMESTIC newborn adoptions]
House GOP Restores Adoption Tax Credit After Backlash
[Weekly Standard 11/9/17 by John McCormack]
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