A media report that the leader of a polygamous religious sect in Bountiful, B.C., could have collected over $40,000 last month in Universal Child Care Benefits is renewing debate over the Conservative plan.

Winston Blackmore has 24 wives, according to an indictment against him on a charge of polygamy.

The Vancouver Sun, based on the best information available from several sources, estimates he has 133 children; 20 younger than seven years old and 78 between ages seven and 18.

Beginning in July, families received their first cheques for the increased benefit of $160 a month for each child under six and $60 a month for each child between six and 17.

Because the payment last month included the retroactive boost to the beginning of the year, families received a lump sum.

A rough estimate suggests Blackmore and his wives could have collected more than $40,000.

On a regular basis, the Blackmore family might see almost $8,000 a month in child care benefits.

Those estimates are highly speculative. There are many unknowns about Blackmore’s family arrangements that would affect the amount.

The article has put the controversial polygamist back in the headlines but it also renewed the debate over who benefits from the federal government’s Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB).

The answer is nobody, says Rhys Kesselman, the Canada Research Chair in Public Finance and a professor in Simon Fraser University’s school of public finance.

“It’s about 50 cents per day per child,” Kesselman tells Yahoo Canada News.

When the federal government announced the increased benefit, they simultaneously abolished the child tax credit. And the Universal Child Care Benefit is taxable income, he points out.

“It would depend upon the lower earner parent’s tax bracket but I would say roughly the net benefit is about $11 to $17 per month,” Kesselman says.

“Clearly that can have no bearing on any parent’s choice of do I use day care or do I do it at home.”

Depending on the province and the age of the child, child care outside the home costs $25-40 a day, he says.

“Fifty cents a day — it does nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

A report by the Parliamentary Budget Office earlier this year says that prior to the boost in the benefit that went into effect this year, 66 per cent of the Universal Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Expense Deduction went to families that spent money on child care, while 34 per cent went to families with no child care expenses and families with older children.

Under the new plan, 49 per cent goes to families with actual child care expenses and young children, while 51 per cent goes to families with no child care expenses.

“The introduction of the UCCB greatly increased the level of benefits, as well as offered benefits to eligible families with a stay-at-home parent,” says the report.

There is a small net gain to all parents of children under age 18, Kesselman says.

“It’s just cash. It has no connection with daycare, child care, at-home care. It’s just money in the pocket of the parents,” he says.

In Blackmore’s case, any calculations are guesswork at best. Even the estimates for how many children he has vary wildly. Blackmore testified in a tax case before the Federal Court that he had 22 wives and 67 children.

He and James Oler, the leader of a rival polygamous faction in Bountiful, will be back in court in Creston on Aug. 20 to fix a date for their criminal trials on polygamy charges.

Blackmore’s lawyer Joseph Arvay wasn’t immediately available for comment.

