Ayotte Signs Child Care Tax Credit Backed By Business Leaders

By Leonard Robinson, NH Journal

Housing. Workforce. Child care.

That is the three-legged stool of priorities for New Hampshire business owners, according to the elected officials and business leaders who joined Gov. Kelly Ayotte on Thursday at The Granite YMCA in Manchester as she highlighted a new child care tax credit program aimed at getting more Granite Staters into the workforce.

The ceremonial bill signing for HB 1433 gave Ayotte another affordability message ahead of the November elections, where the cost of living is expected to remain a top issue for voters — and a point of attack from her Democratic opponent, Cinde Warmington.

The bill, which passed with strong bipartisan support, creates the New Hampshire Child Day Care Creation Tax Credit. The program gives eligible businesses a credit against either the Business Profits Tax or the Business Enterprise Tax for creating or expanding licensed child care seats, either directly or through a third party.

The credit is worth up to 50 percent of qualifying expenditures, including costs tied to acquiring, constructing, rehabilitating, renovating, or expanding property for child care, as well as certain operating costs for new or expanded facilities.

“Expanding access to child care is a critical part of our efforts to ensure New Hampshire remains the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” Ayotte said. “With this new child care tax credit program, we’re encouraging our business community to be part of the solution to this pressing economic challenge in our state.”

Under the new law, businesses can qualify for the credit by creating or expanding child care seats in a New Hampshire-licensed child care program on or after Jan. 1, 2027. The program is capped at $5 million in total credits per fiscal year.

Supporters say the goal is to encourage employers interested in expanding or relocating in New Hampshire to be part of the child care solution, rather than leaving working parents to struggle with rising costs and limited availability on their own.

“As a father and mayor, I know how important access to affordable, high-quality child care is for families across New Hampshire,” said Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais. “I want to thank Gov. Ayotte, the members of the legislature, and the many child care providers, advocates, employers, and stakeholders whose collaboration made HB 1433 possible.

Ayotte pointed to New Hampshire businesses like United Therapeutics that are already building on-site child care facilities for their workforce, one of the goals of the legislation.

“At United Therapeutics, they think it’s so important to help make sure that their workforce already has child care that they’re already doing this,” Ayotte said. “And so they were excited to hear about this opportunity with the child care tax credit.”

New Hampshire child care costs have soared to record highs, placing the state among the most expensive in the nation for families with young children. Research from the University of New Hampshire found the average cost of full-time, center-based child care for an infant and a 4-year-old is nearly $32,000 per year.

For business leaders, the issue is not just a family concern. It is a workforce problem.

“There’s not a business that I visit around the state where the conversation doesn’t revolve around workforce, housing and child care,” said Mike Skelton, president and CEO of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire. “And I think we should all be really proud that over the last couple of years we’ve made huge strides on both housing and child care, and this issue in particular is a huge step forward for the BIA.”

The Granite YMCA, one of the state’s largest providers of early education and child care services, hosted the bill-signing event.

“As one of New Hampshire’s largest providers of early education and child care services, The Granite YMCA knows that access to affordable, high-quality child care is essential to supporting working families and strengthening our economy,” said Michele Sheppard, president and CEO of The Granite YMCA.

The child care tax credit was one of several child care-related bills moving through the 2026 legislative session. House Bill 1567 is aimed at allowing home-based child care options in residential zones, and HB 1195 is designed to reduce zoning barriers for new day care facilities.

Ayotte was joined Thursday by Ruais, Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver, and lead sponsors Rep. Katelyn Kuttab (R-Windham) and Sen. Denise Ricciardi (R-Bedford).

For Ayotte, the message was clear: Expanding child care access is part of the larger affordability agenda she and fellow Republicans plan to take to voters this fall.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.