Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s plan to extend the childcare rebate to cover nannies would cost taxpayers $500 million a year, federal government calculations show.
Labor has gone on the attack since Mr Abbott proposed allowing parents to claim up to $7500 a year on home-based help, rather than being limited to approved childcare centres.
This 50 per cent rebate would be able to be used for nannies, under a coalition plan.
But the federal departments of education and finance calculate that including nannies in the rebate would cost an extra $1.975 billion over the first four years, Fairfax Media reports.
Such a scheme would start at $445 million in 2012/13, rising to $545 million in 2015/16, it found.
The analysis was based on the rebate being claimed for 38,500 children in 2012/13, with nannies paid about $25 an hour.