--- title: Elizabeth Warren to Propose Universal Child Care Plan description: Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing a universal child care plan paid for by a tax on the ultra-wealthy canonical: https://time.com/5532266/elizabeth-warren-universal-child-care-wealth-tax/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-19T09:46:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:48:10.948Z article:section: Politics og:title: Elizabeth Warren to Propose Universal Child Care Plan og:description: Paid for by a tax on the ultra-wealthy og:url: https://time.com/5532266/elizabeth-warren-universal-child-care-wealth-tax/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd759e1c8fae1ca0f/6989455716d8847b1bc34a6a/gettyimages-1125752610.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Elizabeth Warren Brings Her Presidential Campaign To Southern California og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elizabeth Warren to Propose Universal Child Care Plan twitter:description: Paid for by a tax on the ultra-wealthy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd759e1c8fae1ca0f/6989455716d8847b1bc34a6a/gettyimages-1125752610.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elizabeth Warren to Unveil Universal Child Care Plan Funded by Tax on Ultra-Wealthy > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 19, 2019 9:46 AM UTC  U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks at an organizing event on Feb. 18, 2019 in Glendale, Calif. U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks at an organizing event on Feb. 18, 2019 in Glendale, Calif. Mario Tama—Getty Images by [Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 19, 2019 9:46 AM UTC Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing a universal child care plan that would limit American families’ expenses to 7% of income regardless of how many children they have in care -paid for by a tax on the ultra-wealthy. The Massachusetts senator’s plan, to be unveiled Tuesday, would make child care free for families with incomes below 200% of the poverty level, or less that $51,500 for a family of four, according to a person familiar with the plan. Other families would pay up to 7% of income, depending on how much they earn. The proposal marks the latest policy entry into a 2020 contest that features scores of progressive Democrats competing over how best to mitigate income inequality and expand the economic safety net for working families. Americans pay [nearly as much](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-29/americans-still-pay-more-for-rent-than-childcare-but-not-much) for child care as they do for rent, with the average cost of child care in the U.S. approaching $1,400 a month, according to a 2018 HotPads analysis of a Care.com state and metro area [pricing index](https://www.care.com/care-index). Warren’s economic populist vision, paired with fierce attacks on corporations and wealthy Americans who she says are rigging the system for self-interest, is at the heart of her campaign, which has already drawn attacks from President Donald Trump. Warren’s plan would cost taxpayers $70 billion per year, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics economists Mark Zandi and Sophia Koropeckyj. It would be paid for with some of the revenue from an annual wealth tax Warren has proposed on assets above $50 million, the person said. The proposal would “substantially increase the number of children able to receive formal child care” from 6.8 million (or one-third of those under 5 years old) to 12 million (or 60 percent of children under 5), the economists said. It would cut formal care costs for families with young children by about 17 percent. It would be set up as a federal program, built on existing ones like Head Start and administered by local governments and nonprofit entities. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5532266/elizabeth-warren-universal-child-care-wealth-tax/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5532266/elizabeth-warren-universal-child-care-wealth-tax/"},"headline":"Elizabeth Warren to Unveil Universal Child Care Plan Funded by Tax on Ultra-Wealthy","datePublished":"2019-02-19T09:46:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:48:10.948Z","description":"It would limit American families’ expenses to 7% of income","url":"https://time.com/5532266/elizabeth-warren-universal-child-care-wealth-tax/","keywords":["Health Care","Bloomberg","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd759e1c8fae1ca0f/6989455716d8847b1bc34a6a/gettyimages-1125752610.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd759e1c8fae1ca0f/6989455716d8847b1bc34a6a/gettyimages-1125752610.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Elizabeth Warren Brings Her Presidential Campaign To Southern California","caption":"Elizabeth Warren Brings Her Presidential Campaign To Southern California","creditText":"Mario Tama—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5532266/elizabeth-warren-universal-child-care-wealth-tax/","name":"Elizabeth Warren to Unveil Universal Child Care Plan Funded by Tax on Ultra-Wealthy"}}]}] ```