Taxes and Budget

Targeted tax breaks for individuals and families

42 public statements from 2026 candidates · 4 related bills

§1The range of views

Why this matters: These breaks lower taxes for people with those costs and can encourage things like saving for school, and each one reduces how much tax the government collects.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

Special deductions, credits and tax-free savings for particular costs and events, such as saving for education in 529 plans, adopting a child or the profit from selling a home.1,2,3

  1. Expand these breaks and make more of them refundable, so families who owe little income tax also benefit
  2. Add or expand breaks for costs such as education savings, adoption and selling a home
  3. Keep the current breaks
  4. Cut back these breaks and use the money for lower tax rates or deficit reduction

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Expand these breaks and make more of them refundable, so families who owe little income tax also benefit (1)

  • Daniel Biss IL-9
    His campaign website says he will expand the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, increase the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit significantly and make it fully refundable, and increase the tax deduction for teachers' school supplies and index it to inflation.4,5,6

Add or expand breaks for costs such as education savings, adoption and selling a home (28)

  • Shomari C. Figures AL-2
    His campaign website says he introduced bills to give parents a tax break for their children's extracurricular activities and a tax credit for first-time parents.7
  • Mike McGuire CA-1
    His campaign's rural plan says he would pass a federal renter's tax credit modeled on state programs such as California's.8
  • Eric Jones CA-4
    His campaign website says rent should be tax-deductible, with a cap, as mortgage interest is for homeowners.9,10,11
  • Rudy Recile CA-8
    His campaign website says parents who pay for private school, homeschooling or higher education for their children should get a tax credit for those costs nationwide.12
  • Sam Liccardo CA-16
    His campaign website says he supports doubling the capital gains tax exclusion on the sale of a home, and proposes a federal tax credit for teachers.13,14
  • Peter Sundin Soulé CA-16
    His campaign website says he would raise the federal capital gains exclusion on the sale of a primary residence to $1 million for married couples filing jointly.15,16
  • Shane Lewis CA-18
    His campaign website says gym memberships, fitness equipment, youth and adult sports leagues and personal wellness and self-defense training should be fully deductible from taxable income.17
  • Linda Sánchez CA-41
    Her campaign website says she introduced bipartisan legislation to give working families a tax credit for caring for a sick or elderly loved one at home.18
  • Brian Burley CA-42
    A platform document on his campaign website proposes a tax credit for paying down student loan principal and investment accounts with a tax credit that parents could use to save for a child's education or trade school or to start a small business, each a 5% credit of up to $200 a year.19
  • Jim Desmond CA-48
    His campaign website's plans call for a caregiver tax credit, tax-free savings accounts for child care and for buying a home (including letting unused 529 college savings roll into a housing account), and changes to capital gains taxes on the sale of owner-occupied homes.20,21,22
  • Scott Peters CA-50
    His campaign website says he wrote the law, made permanent in 2025, that lets employers help pay off workers' student loans tax-free.23,24
  • Mike Sell FL-4
    His campaign's platform calls for targeted tax relief for teachers, nurses and first responders, and its bill tracker lists him as supporting a bill to raise the tax deduction for teachers' classroom supplies from $300 to $1,000.25,26
  • Gus Michael Bilirakis FL-12
    His campaign website says he filed the Homeowners Premium Tax Reduction Act, which would create an above-the-line tax deduction of up to $10,000 for homeowners insurance premiums on a primary residence.27,28
  • Mario Diaz-Balart FL-26
    His campaign website lists expanding the Adoption Tax Credit among his accomplishments.29
  • Mike Collins GA Senate
    His campaign website says his Aviation Workforce Development Act lets families use 529 education savings plans to pay for technical and career training.30
  • Brenton Awa HI-2
    His campaign website proposes giving owner-occupants the same tax deductions that investors use to lower their housing costs.31,32
  • Ashley Hinson IA Senate
    Her campaign's affordability plan would let working parents use tax-free dollars in 529 accounts to pay for child care and would let Iowans save more money tax-free for a down payment.33
  • Tommy Hanson IL-5
    His campaign website lists making credit card interest and education expenses, including tuition, tax deductible among his objectives.34
  • Sean Casten IL-6
    His campaign website lists introducing a bipartisan bill to quadruple the amount teachers can deduct for qualified out-of-pocket expenses on their tax returns.35
  • Darin LaHood IL-16
    His campaign website says he helped create new tax-advantaged savings accounts for newborns.36
  • Caleb "With a C" Walker LA-3
    His campaign website says he will fight to increase teacher pay and make the first $50,000 of every educator's salary exempt from federal income tax.37
  • "Matt" Gromlich LA-4
    His campaign website lists the Supporting Teachers Through Tax Fairness Act, which it says excludes the first $50,000 in wages from gross income for K-12 public school teachers, among legislation he will support on day one.38
  • Michelle Fischbach MN-7
    Her page on the Hardworking Seniors Act, which she introduced, says it would let people who are still working after enrolling in Medicare Part A keep putting money into a Health Savings Account, and the record page lists co-sponsoring a bill to let 529 tax-free savings accounts pay for non-degree technical training certificate programs.39,40
  • Fred Wellman MO-2
    His campaign website lists a tax credit of up to $5,000 for family caregivers and letting families use pre-tax accounts for a parent's care among the things he will fight for.41,42
  • Michael D Eisenhauer MT-2
    His Issues page lists targeted cuts in capital gains taxes for older homeowners who sell their homes among housing measures he supports.43
  • Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar NC-4
    His campaign website proposes ending income taxes for people over 63 and eliminating capital gains taxes when someone sells their main residence.44
  • Donald Norcross NJ-1
    His campaign website says he has advocated for a Caregiver's Tax Credit to help families care for elderly loved ones at home.45
  • Bert Mizusawa VA Senate
    His campaign website says he would lower the tax on selling a home and lower the tax burden on Virginia families.46

Cut back these breaks and use the money for lower tax rates or deficit reduction (2)

  • Jay J Bowman KY-6
    His campaign website's tax plan eliminates all individual itemized deductions, including the home mortgage interest deduction, and says the $100,000 exemption replaces them.47,48
  • William B. Redpath OH Senate special
    His campaign website supports eliminating most tax credits and deductions except the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit and tax-preferred savings accounts.49

Statements that don't match one option (11)

  • Mike Thompson CA-4
    His campaign website lists among his accomplishments passing $500 million in tax relief so that wildfire survivors who received settlements for the loss of their homes no longer owe federal tax on those payments.50
  • Jeff Frese CA-10
    His campaign website says teachers should pay no federal income tax.51
  • Ro Khanna CA-17
    His campaign website says he would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to up to $12,000 for families with children and $3,000 for workers without children, and give renters earning under $150,000 a tax deduction for rent.52
  • Judy Chu CA-28
    Her campaign website lists expanding tax credits that help working people save for retirement among her accomplishments.53
  • Samantha Mota CA-37
    Her campaign website calls for expanding the Saver's Match for retirement savings.54
  • Alexander Cooke FL-21
    His campaign website says he would restore and expand a federal disaster mitigation tax credit, with a $5,000 credit per home for hardening measures such as impact windows, roof straps and elevation.55
  • Ronald C. Russell ME-1
    His campaign website says he supports larger work-linked credits for low- and moderate-income workers, such as a strengthened Earned Income Tax Credit, instead of growing welfare programs.56
  • Ilhan Omar MN-5
    Her campaign website's housing page says she wants the mortgage interest deduction replaced with a flat 15 percent tax credit, which it says would extend a tax cut to 15 million more working and middle-class homeowners.57
  • Jeff Van Drew NJ-2
    The page lists his July 2025 vote for a new $6,000 tax credit for seniors among his accomplishments.58
  • Zack Mullock NJ-2
    It also proposes tax breaks for three groups: caregivers, seniors and people with disabilities.59
  • Ramon Mora Jr. NJ-2
    It lists a tax break for homeowners and renters who have lived in the same primary residence for seven or more years.60

§3Related bills

Why this matters: Bills from 2023–2026 that bear on this issue, with how Congress handled them.