Gov. JB Pritzker could secure more than $2 billion for Illinois students by joining the federal tax credit program. Under the rules, married donors can receive a tax credit of up to $3,400.
Illinois taxpayers could direct more than $2 billion in donations to students in the state if Gov. Pritzker decided to enroll Illinois in the federal scholarship tax credit program. The program, also known as the Education Freedom Tax Credit, provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for qualified donations to scholarship-granting organizations. Students in both public and private schools can use the funds for education-related expenses such as tutoring, services for students with disabilities, tuition or school fees, and textbooks and school supplies.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently confirmed that married couples filing jointly can receive a tax credit of up to $3,400 per year for donations, while individual filers can receive up to $1,700 per year. An analysis by the organization Democrats for Education Reform found it quite likely that 30% of eligible Illinois taxpayers could donate the full allowable amount. That would raise $2,087,575,860 for students. Illinois could raise as much as $7 billion under the program if every eligible taxpayer in the state donated the full amount qualifying for the tax credit.
If Pritzker does not opt Illinois in to the program, donations from the state’s residents will go to students in other states. Taxpayers can donate to any scholarship-granting organization approved by the federal government, regardless of whether their state’s governor has opted in. This means Illinois taxpayers can still claim the tax credit by donating to such organizations in other states.
A campaign to attract donations from Illinois residents has already begun. A billboard in Chicago’s south suburbs, near the Indiana border, urged Illinois residents to donate to scholarship-granting organizations in Indiana if Pritzker does not decide to participate. So far, 32 states have said they will take part in the program, including seven states governed by Democrats. Pritzker must decide by Jan. 1, 2027, whether to opt Illinois in to the program, which would potentially provide more than $2 billion for students in the state.
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Source: Polski.FM
