This year I will be able to take the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. I was looking at how it works using 2020 tax forms, although I realize the credit amount has changed. One thing I didn't understand is "if filing jointly figure your and your spouse's earned income separately" and then enter the smallest amount between each income and how much was spent on child care. So, if we spent, for example, $5000 on child care, I made $50,000 and my wife made $2000 in her online business, then we would be entering $2000 and will be getting a percentage of that as the credit. But why should it a percentage of her income rather than how much was spent on child care?
