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Committee backs business child‑care tax credit aimed at adding seats, capping credits at $5M a year
Summary
HB 1433 would allow businesses to claim a tax credit equal to 50% of qualifying expenditures to create or expand child‑care seats (minimum 12 new seats), with an aggregate cap of $5 million per fiscal year and application processing on a first‑come, first‑served basis.
The Ways and Means Committee advanced House Bill 1433, a business tax‑credit proposal intended to expand child‑care supply by incentivizing employers to create or expand child‑care seats.
Representative Caitlyn Coutab said the credit equals 50% of qualifying expenditures for businesses that add at least 12 new child‑care seats after January 1, 2027. Qualifying costs include capital outlays (construction, renovation, acquisition) and two years of operational costs for new programs; credits may be claimed against the business profits tax, the business enterprise tax, or a combination, and may be carried forward up to four years. The bill caps the aggregate credits at $5 million per fiscal year and processes awards on a first‑come, first‑served basis; applications that exceed the annual cap are carried to the next fiscal year with priority.
Multiple stakeholders testified in support. Trina Inglefinger of New Futures and Karan Benfield of Stay Work Play cited a shortage of licensed child‑care slots—testimony referenced estimates of more than 9,000 missing seats statewide—and argued that limited child care depresses workforce participation and harms recruitment and retention. Industry groups including New Hampshire Life Sciences and the state chamber supported the bill’s flexibility and said employers may partner with existing providers to scale capacity.
Department of Revenue Administration staff told the committee they can administer the credit but would need a $40,000 software reprogramming appropriation to manage an application cap process; that cost appears in the bill’s fiscal note and DRA requested appropriation language to cover it. The committee adopted the bill and placed it on consent to report out.
Committee members discussed that center‑based child‑care projects typically take two to three years from decision to operation and noted that the credit’s effect on pay for child‑care workers is indirect and would depend on the business model used to provide seats.
