For Utah's poorest parents, getting a raise at work can seem like a punishment. If they make a dollar beyond a certain income, the state revokes their entire child-care subsidy, the dollars that made going to work feasible.

Taxpayer dollars - paid as child care subsidies - have been going to Utahns convicted of operating a methamphetamine lab, armed robberies, aggravated assault and even child neglect.

Rep. Jim Dunnigan, an insurance broker, was shocked two years ago when one of his two employees rejected a pay raise because it would put her above the income threshold for child care vouchers.