Nov. 25, 2015
HARRISBURG-- Rep. John Taylor (R-Philadelphia) sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf asking him to direct the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to release letters that would allow businesses across the state to contribute money to student scholarships and prevent the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs from being yet another casualty of the budget impasse.
The DCED recently decided that it cannot release the tax credit approval letters that are a necessary prerequisite for corporations whose contributions fund the program until the current budget impasse is resolved.
In the letter, co-written with Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia), Taylor argued the administration’s “legal interpretation has the potential to disrupt and damage these two critical programs and result in great harm to the children and families who benefit from these scholarships.”
Over the life of the EITC/OSIC, more than 23,500 businesses have been approved, generating more than $657 million to the program. “There’s no question that the need for these investments is real,” Taylor wrote.
Under the program guidelines, companies must make their donations before Dec. 31 to receive the tax credit. “Without the timely issuance of the approval letters, these contributions almost certainly will be lost,” Taylor wrote. “Indeed, because companies do not want to leave decisions about their taxes and charitable contributions for the year until the last two weeks of the year, many are already preparing to abandon their EITC commitments.”
The EITC/OSIC program provides tax credits to businesses which make contributions to children in kindergarten through grade 12, organizations providing funding for innovative educational programs in public schools, and pre-kindergarten scholarship organizations offering scholarships to children enrolled in early learning programs.
Taylor also took part in a press conference with House colleagues to request the governor release the letters.
“From its inception, the EITC/OSTC program has enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the Legislature, and from Democratic and Republican governors alike,” Taylor wrote. “On both sides of the aisle, we are concerned that the failure to timely issue the approval letters will permanently damage this important program for children and families. That would be unfortunate and, we believe, unnecessary.”
You can read the letter here.
Representative John Taylor
177th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: David Foster
267.207.0207
dfoster@pahousegop.com
RepTaylor.com /
Facebook.com/RepTaylor