2005 Senate Bill 382: Tax break for contributions to public schools

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Introduced by Sen. Mike Bishop (R) on April 14, 2005, to authorize an income tax credit equal to as much as 50% of the contributions that a taxpayer donates to certain organizations that give money to public schools. This credit could not exceed $100 for a single filer, or $200 for a jointly filing married couple.
- Referred to the Senate Finance Committee on April 14, 2005.
  - Reported in the Senate on June 29, 2006, with the recommendation that the bill pass.

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1) Theory Full of Holes by Anonymous Citizen on May 6, 2005
>Given that parents are in no way obligated to send their childen to public, many of them send their children to private, parochial, or even home school their children, that alone makes public schools an "optional service" and shoots down your argument <

Wrong premise equals wrong conclusion.

Actually, the law does require that children attend school until age 18 or completion of high school, or until age 16 if parents give permission for their kid to drop out. Taxpayer-funded, tuition-free public schools are provided for this purpose, and this purpose alone. That is how the mandate to educate your kid -- and your neighbor’s -- is fully funded.

Parents may opt to home school under certain provisions, or may opt to enroll their kids in private schools, of their own volition (that means choice) at their own expense. They are not entitled to be and should not be compensated by direct or indirect payment or tax advantage for tuition money that they did not need to spend, since the service they have engaged is available through pubic school at no charge. Long and short of it.

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2) Hole in that theory. by MCP-001 on May 6, 2005
>Why should anyone receive a tax credit for money shelled out in payment for an optional service engaged as a matter of individual choice when that same service is provided and available as a tax-supported public service? The answer, of course, is, "They should not."<

Given that parents are in no way obligated to send their childen to public, many of them send their children to private, parochial, or even home school their children, that alone makes public schools an "optional service" and shoots down your argument.
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3) Private & Parochial Schools Do Get Breaks by Anonymous Citizen on May 6, 2005
>why shouldn't the parochial and private schools get a tax break? <

They do. Provided they are set up as non-profit corporations that qualify donor largesse as “charitable contributions” to them for tax purposes.

If you want a tax credit for paying tuition to a private or parochial school . . . well, that’s another matter.

Why should anyone receive a tax credit for money shelled out in payment for an optional service engaged as a matter of individual choice when that same service is provided and available as a tax-supported public service? The answer, of course, is, "They should not."

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