Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the United States does not invest enough in child care, arguing that taxing ultra-millionaires and billionaires could help make child care more affordable while increasing pay for child care workers.
In a video posted on X on Monday, Warren responded to a social media post questioning why child care remains expensive even though child care workers are paid relatively little. She argued the problem stems from years of underinvestment in early childhood education.
Why is child care so expensive when our child care workers are paid so little? pic.twitter.com/aQyz6vDLs5
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 3, 2026
Why Child Care Costs So Much
“The bottom line is that we as a country don’t invest enough in child care,” Warren said.
She said that, unlike other forms of education, the government invests relatively little in child care and does not require child care workers to be paid comparably with other education professionals, such as teachers.
Warren renewed her call for an ultra-millionaire wealth tax, proposing a 2% annual tax on household wealth above $50 million and a 3% tax on wealth exceeding $1 billion.
“That revenue could help us invest in child care and early education and still leave a lot of money left over,” Warren said. “In the wealthiest country on the planet, access to affordable, high quality child care and early education should be a right, not just a privilege reserved for the rich.”
Child Care Costs Continue to Pressure Families
Warren’s comments come as child care affordability remains a challenge for many American families.
Earlier this year, a Joint Economic Committee Minority report estimated the nation’s child care crisis could cost the U.S. economy as much as $329 billion over the next decade. The report said families pay an average of $13,184 annually for child care, while some parents wait as long as two years for an available child care slot. It also found that limited access to affordable child care can reduce workforce participation and increase costs for employers.
The financial strain has also been reflected in parents’ experiences. Earlier, many families said daycare costs had become comparable to or even exceeded mortgage payments, while one middle-class parent said daycare in their area cost more than in-state college tuition, calling it “cheaper to pay for my infant’s undergrad than to get him to public kindergarten.”
Wealth Tax Proposal Isn’t New
Warren has repeatedly argued that higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans could help fund child care and early education.
Earlier this year, she said revenue from her proposed ultra-millionaire wealth tax could pay for child care for all 3- and 4-year-olds in the United States, using Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk as an example while promoting the proposal.
Disclaimer: This content was produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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