Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is at it again, and this time she's tying her long-standing push for a wealth tax to something every parent can relate to: the jaw-dropping cost of child care.

In a video posted on X on Monday, Warren responded to a social media post questioning why child care remains so expensive even though child care workers are paid so little. Her answer? The U.S. simply doesn't invest enough in early childhood education.

"The bottom line is that we as a country don't invest enough in child care," Warren said.

She pointed out that unlike other forms of education, the government puts relatively little money into child care and doesn't require child care workers to be paid comparably with teachers or other education professionals.

Why Child Care Costs So Much

Warren's argument is straightforward: if we want quality child care, we need to pay for it. And she has a specific idea about where that money should come from.

She renewed her call for an ultra-millionaire wealth tax, proposing a 2% annual tax on household wealth above $50 million and a 3% tax on wealth exceeding $1 billion.

"That revenue could help us invest in child care and early education and still leave a lot of money left over," Warren said. "In the wealthiest country on the planet, access to affordable, high quality child care and early education should be a right, not just a privilege reserved for the rich."

Child Care Costs Continue to Pressure Families

Warren's comments come as child care affordability remains a major challenge for many American families.

Earlier this year, a Joint Economic Committee Minority report estimated that the nation's child care crisis could cost the U.S. economy as much as $329 billion over the next decade. The report found that families pay an average of $13,184 annually for child care, while some parents wait as long as two years for an available slot. It also noted that limited access to affordable child care can reduce workforce participation and increase costs for employers.

The financial strain is real. Many families have said daycare costs are now comparable to or even exceed their mortgage payments. One middle-class parent noted that daycare in their area cost more than in-state college tuition, joking that it was "cheaper to pay for my infant's undergrad than to get him to public kindergarten."

Wealth Tax Proposal Isn't New

Warren has been pushing this idea for a while. Earlier this year, she argued that revenue from her proposed ultra-millionaire wealth tax could pay for child care for all 3- and 4-year-olds in the United States. She even used Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk as an example while promoting the proposal.

The idea of taxing the ultra-wealthy to fund social programs isn't new, but Warren's framing—that child care is a right, not a privilege—is resonating with many families struggling to make ends meet.

Whether the proposal gains traction remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the conversation about child care costs isn't going away anytime soon.