In defense of Georgia’s tax-credit scholarships
This month the Wingfield household, like millions of others across America, has received a growing number of tax documents. Among them are forms certifying that we gave $50 to this charity or $100 to that one, allowing us to reduce what we owe in taxes.
What neither we nor the IRS will receive is official documentation that our church converted X number of non-believers into Christians, or that a charity we supported decreased poverty or sexual exploitation by a quantifiable amount. Or that everyone who benefited from our donations earned less than a certain amount of income.
Yet, similar bits of data are being requested of one of the kinds of non-profits we could have supported but didn’t: Georgia’s student scholarship organizations.
These SSOs accept donations from Georgia taxpayers, who can then reduce their state income taxes by an equal amount — up to a limit for all donors of about $50 million per year, or one-quarter of 1 percent of all revenues the state expects to collect this year. They then give the money to private schools, which in turn award scholarships to students.
Many claims are made about these so-called tax-credit scholarships. The most easily dismissed is that this is the state’s money.
“The United States Supreme Court ruled, clearly, that this is not tax money,” says Rep. Earl Ehrhart, the Powder Springs Republican who sponsored the 2008 bill that authorized SSOs and these tax credits. He refers to the court’s 2011 ruling in two cases involving Arizona’s tax-credit scholarships.
Indeed, the opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy states: “When Arizona taxpayers choose to contribute to STOs [the equivalent of Georgia’s SSOs], they spend their own money, not money the state has collected from respondents or from other taxpayers.”
Given that ruling, it’s not clear Georgia has to report anything about donations to SSOs — any more than it should report how much Georgians give to churches, synagogues or mosques, groups that fight hunger and poverty, groups that promote the arts or conservation, or any others.
Still, Ehrhart has filed a bill this year, HB 140, that would, among other things, raise the annual cap to $80 million but require public reporting of some aggregated information about SSOs: the number and value of donations made by individuals and corporations, as well as the number and value of scholarships awarded.
That last bit of data could help prove what SSO advocates have long argued: that these scholarships actually save tax money, because the average award amount is less than what public schools spend per pupil.
Scholarship recipients’ family income is another matter. Ehrhart says the program “was never sold” as one meant to benefit only low-income students, though he argues they are bound to be the greatest beneficiaries.
“You don’t give [scholarships] to rich kids,” says Ehrhart, who serves as the unpaid head of an SSO called Faith First Georgia. “Why would you take your limited money and do that?”
And, getting back to the original point, means-testing would represent a level of scrutiny not applied to other charities and their donors.
Speaking of scrutiny, a newer complaint about tax-credit scholarships is that some private schools receiving money from SSOs have policies, for religious reasons, that prohibit gay students.
But as the Supreme Court recognized, these donations are private gifts, not public money. There is no conflict here with public discrimination policies any more than when Georgians make tax-deductible gifts to other religious entities with similar views.
Barring these tax credits based on some private schools’ faith-based guidelines for students could, however, set a precedent for attacking the tax-deductibility of all gifts to religious groups.
As for claims that some donors and private schools are finding ways to make sure contributions are earmarked for specific students, including the donors’ own children, Ehrhart points out that practice is illegal — and encourages anyone with knowledge of law-breaking by specific SSOs, donors or schools to contact their district attorney.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
293 comments Add your comment
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
2:20 pm
Cheesy,
Always out of step!
I did not make the rules here but they are posted.
You CAN read, can’t you?
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
2:25 pm
Hi Rafe,
Glad you are here. Our fantasy friends are fuming today.
While Kyle’s away, they run astray!
ND
January 31st, 2013
2:35 pm
“As a Christian, I have no problem with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. trying to find new converts. If they set up charitable organizations that also talk about their respective faiths, that’s a perfectly legitimate thing to do. They’re even welcome to try to convert me, although they won’t succeed. Freedom of religion at work.”
Neither I nor any of the rest of the people of my faith have any interest in converting you or anyone else. I respect others’ right to make their own decisions. It would be nice if y’all did the same. True freedom of religion includes freedom from others’ religion as well.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 31st, 2013
2:41 pm
Good column on how fallible supposed experts have been throughout history.
http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/01/23/experts-arent-deities-n1493995/page/2
sailfish
January 31st, 2013
2:47 pm
Ignorance is not bliss…anyone that would compare our gov’t to greece, spain, or cuba, really has not a clue about reality, just head over heels in propaganda and myths. Good luck with that.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 31st, 2013
2:50 pm
Hello Dusty, always good to see our poet laureate on board.
Total freedom just scares people for some reason. We are never going to agree about whom should be allowed to fill your little crumb crunchers developing head, so lets let people decide where their children attend school. If you want a secular school with a conservative bent, a religious school, a liberal based progressive school, a military school, or whatever, the parents should decide. There is too much, one size fits all, involved when the government decides for you.
barking frog
January 31st, 2013
2:51 pm
Dusty poet that you are could use divine wind from afar
to blow the cobwebs from your mind and recognize holy
debris from the common kind.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 31st, 2013
2:55 pm
anyone that would compare our gov’t to greece, spain, or cuba, really has not a clue about reality,
So saith the Sailfish! And please enlighten us why that is. Too big to fail? I think I have heard that before. Too many natural resources, just like Mexico? Strong dollar based on ………… fiat? Ability to borrow?
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
2:58 pm
Propaganda is for liberals. I’m not one of them
Here are the similarities, SAILFISH
Cuba is a communist country with universal healthcare, somewhat similar in purpose to ObamaCare.
Greece & Spain are almost bankrupt and up to their necks in debt. The USA is up to its neck in debt of over 16 trillion dollars and is now printing paper money with nothing to back it up.
We all need “good luck” facing these circumstances. .
sailfish
January 31st, 2013
2:58 pm
rafe
Read some of your commentary about public schools in general, I think you are a bit paranoid. Your perception of a liberal bias of some sort is not backed up by any kind of honest evidence. Most schools and teachers just deliver state approved curriculum and it seems to me that georgia leans pretty conservative, what’s your fear and to whom are you listening to?
barking frog
January 31st, 2013
2:58 pm
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
Strong dollar based on ………… fiat? Ability to borrow?
…………………………………………………………
Ability to destroy ?
sailfish
January 31st, 2013
3:04 pm
dusty
No, propaganda has no boundries, conseervative ideology is no different. Guess who devised obamacare? Conservatives at the heritage foundation in the 90’s, it has nothing to do with communism, you fail on that point. Why weren’t all you folks screaming about the debt four, six years ago? Once the housing debacle has run its course and if we can get employment back, then the debt will start moving in the other direction, blaming the president and not the congress shows lack of civics knowledge. Congress spends and appropriates, only they can do it.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
3:05 pm
BARKING FROG I’m harken to ya! But I’m trying to glean what you mean.
Divine wind? It struck Bartow,
It wasn’t divine. It was TORNADO!
barking frog
January 31st, 2013
3:06 pm
I agree with Kyle that this program is beneficial as it
allows parents more control over their child’s education
but if it is being debased it should be more closely
regulated.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
3:07 pm
“Propaganda is for liberals. I’m not one of them”
Bush must have been a liberal and thought you were one as well………… Just saying
“See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
May 6th, 2005
GWB
As always, you are mostly certainly welcome. Don’t mention it.
barking frog
January 31st, 2013
3:10 pm
Dusty dear divine wind is kamikaze in the east afar
but given here is just a bar to your gleaning of my meaning
and causing you a bit of vacuum cleaning.
Jefferson
January 31st, 2013
3:11 pm
In the end the state suffers for the privilage of the few. A bumpy road in a BMW is still bumpy.
sailfish
January 31st, 2013
3:12 pm
rafe
Greece is a poor example, please study their problems. For starters, they have been very bad about collecting taxes from their countrymen. The IRS is not so leniant. Their population is aging and declining. The most important difference is that they are tied to the euro and do not have their own currency. We, on the other hand are the worlds reserve currency, if you can’t trust ours, then whose are u going to trust? Thought so..
barking frog
January 31st, 2013
3:26 pm
Dusty dear, the tornado here is a typhoon afar
and may seem the same but with inspection
depending on where you are may be blowing
the wrong direction.
@@
January 31st, 2013
3:29 pm
What neither we nor the IRS will receive is official documentation that our church converted X number of non-believers into Christians, or that a charity we supported decreased poverty or sexual exploitation by a quantifiable amount. Or that everyone who benefited from our donations earned less than a certain amount of income.
Couldn’t help but laugh at that one.
Since it’s been estimated that more than 1/4 of those receiving free breakfast and lunch in our schools are doing so illegally, could I just send in PB&Js or cheese sandwiches in lieu of my school taxes?
Farm subsidies beget school lunch subsidies.
SUPERSIZE and SUBSIDIZE! It’s what goverment’s all about.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
3:39 pm
SAILFISH
As usual, you ignore similarities. Cuba and their healthcare is communistic, So is the purpose of ObamaCare. Healthcare for all paid, supported planned and executed by government. Nothing individualistic about that
The plan for Obama Care may have originated in the 1990’s but it was not passed then because it was not popular. When 50% of citizens became and believed in almost total government care and provision for almost everything, ObamaCare passed. Barely.
Independence has reverted to dependency on government. That’s a very bad move which has gone forward much faster in the last four years.
Congress does spend and appropriate. Now Democrats control the House with a Democratic president and have for four years. The big things like economics and employment are worse. Not even our allies would venture to say that conditions in the USA are better after four years. Our credit ratings are down.
The last two years of Bush’s term was negated by a Democratic empowered Congress. Now the DemSenate supports the Dem president. So where’s the progress now?
Where’s the minor miracle we were promised like the end of war and Guantanamo, the great economic rise, the rescue of housing from Freddie & Fannie’s fiasco, the drop in unemployment, infra structure improvement,the answer to illegal citizens? Where’s the promised miracle?
Nunna Yobinnes
January 31st, 2013
3:41 pm
Ronnie Raygun – it’s a charitable deduction on your federal return and a credit on your state return. Your Georgia itemized deductions are reduced by the amount contributed to the SSO, so you don’t get the double benefit. Comprendo?
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
3:42 pm
Cuba is a communist country with universal healthcare, somewhat similar in purpose to ObamaCare.
Canada has universal healthcare. Are they communist ?
Norway
Japan
United Kingdom
Belgium
Sweden
Netherlands
Austria
Finland
Denmark
France
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Portugal
Spain
South Korea
Switzerland
Israel
Are they all communist too ??? They all have universal healthcare.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
3:46 pm
Dusty
Are the insurance companies no longer able to make a profit? If so, what is “communistic” about making a profit?
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
3:46 pm
BARKING FROG you pick the mind,
but when it comes down to it,
U R A foggy pollywog.
Michael H. Smith
January 31st, 2013
3:50 pm
And, getting back to the original point, means-testing would represent a level of scrutiny not applied to other charities and their donors.
Add one other item specifically: An “establishment of religion” that our government most certainly does RESPECT – Human Secularism
Point made, case closed. Good work Kyle.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
3:51 pm
“Now Democrats control the House with a Democratic president and have for four years.”
Will some kind blogger explain to Dusty that the House is not controlled by the Democrats and hasn’t been since Jan 2011.
Better yet, I love the laughs so let your ramble. It gets better by the post
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
3:53 pm
POLITICO
Attention: We are talking about the principles of government whether they be free or not.. Business will continue one way or another even if freedom is gone.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
3:54 pm
State law says that donors can designate which school receives the scholarship money, but not which student. In other words, you can donate $2,500 to your kid’s private school, but you can’t designate it to be used for your kid. That would be illegal.
The schools tell parents, no problem. Just bring in your receipt proving that you donated $2,500 to the program and designated our school as the recipient. Then we’ll just deduct that $2,500 from your tuition payment.
- Jay Bookman
Thats what is really going on. Not that anyone cares.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
3:55 pm
“Attention: We are talking about the principles of government whether they be free or not.. Business will continue one way or another even if freedom is gone.”
Then you know nothing about “communism” based on your own words earlier, but keep swinging………
Maybe take another swing regarding that “Democrat controlled House”
bwhahahahahah
JDW
January 31st, 2013
3:56 pm
@Dusty…”Cuba is a communist country with universal healthcare, somewhat similar in purpose to ObamaCare.”
I see Cheesy already gave you a partial list of those other “communist universal healthcare” countries. It might be informative to note that there are only three developed nations WITHOUT universal healthcare…
US
Turkey
Mexico
Nice company we keep…BTW…Obamacare really isn’t universal healthcare…it is mandated insurance purchasing with a subsidy for lower incomes.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
3:57 pm
You are correct, POLITICO. The Senate is controlled by Harry Reid errr Democrats. I really had not forgotten the Senate was in disarray. Just a faux pas on my pas!
Michael H. Smith
January 31st, 2013
4:00 pm
Are they communist ?
Nope, but they are mostly socialist. Only by the degree of Marxism can socialism and communism be distinguished as different from one another. Labels and names do matter and content counts.
Oh and the Swiss do not have a “single payer system” or even a government total health-care coverage system. They have a hybrid. Something I would support if the government part was excluded completely and replace by a member owner mutual health-care co op.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
4:00 pm
Dusty
How do you think John Boehner (R) is Speaker of the “HOUSE” if his party is in the minority at this time?
Take a deep breath and engage your brain. It will come to you.
I will assist you, yet again; don’t mention it. His party CONTROLS the House. That is how he can be and is the Speaker. Well of course he had to be voted in by other members of his party who are also in the House, but I think even you are starting to grasp it now.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
4:02 pm
“Just a faux pas on my pas!”
“A faux pas” or something that just happen to fit your narrative? Either way thanks for the clarification.
Have an awesome day
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
4:03 pm
JDW
Did you know that the USA is the leading country in the world? No use to start copying those of lesser nature.
Of course, in another four years, we may be at the bottom of a lot of lists and THEN we can start copying the losers.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
4:10 pm
Nope, but they are mostly socialist.
I’m sure that would interest the Israeli’s.
Socialism is one of those words the Fox News crowd throws around without really knowing what it means.
Its one of those buzzwords unintelligent people can use and think they sound smart.
Michael H. Smith
January 31st, 2013
4:11 pm
Um, Dusty, have you checked our credit rating lately? Four years might be a stretch?
Oh and by the way, wasn’t Comrade dear leader “obama” supposed to have cut the deficit by the end of his first term in office, according to his own spoken words… just words?
Sooner, hopefully rather the later, people even on the left will begin to realize that cutting the deficit is not just a rightwing GOP political thing.
Michael H. Smith
January 31st, 2013
4:15 pm
Socialism is one of those words the Fox News crowd throws around without really knowing what it means.
Wrong. Go educate yourself or read my posts from this weekend. Marxism with its stages fascist, socialist and communist predated Fox News for a considerable number of years.
Dusty
January 31st, 2013
4:15 pm
POLITICO
Two things for you:
#1–I know all I want to know about communism in one sentence. Communism is the opposite of a democratic republic. I value freedom
#2–Of course I know old friend Boehner(R) who leads the House. He’s a saint putting together good things which he knows the negative Senate Dems will not even read. Which reminds me, I better send a little support donation. Thanks for reminding me.
“Have an awesome day!” Poor Politico! Wants to be nice but is so superficial…
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
4:16 pm
Sooner, hopefully rather the later, people even on the left will begin to realize that cutting the deficit is not just a rightwing GOP political thing.
When have rightwing GOPers ever been serious about cutting the deficit ?
When they are in power all I see them do is spend spend spend.
They just do it on bombs and blowing people up usually.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
4:17 pm
Wrong. Go educate yourself or read my posts from this weekend. Marxism with its stages fascist, socialist and communist predated Fox News for a considerable number of years.
Huh?
Its like talking to a wall.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
4:18 pm
Poor Dusty wants to sound educated regarding political matters but never days
See her post today as ample evidence.
Politico
January 31st, 2013
4:20 pm
does, days
hays, maze
Either way she needs work, but I’m sure she is a nice lady when she is not talking about the Democrat controlled House for the last 4 yrs.
MarkV
January 31st, 2013
4:20 pm
Dusty,
I did not intend to get into a discussion of schools in Georgia, but watching the new direction of the some of the posts makes it hard not to comment the utter lack of rationality, such as in your “contributions.”
“Cuba and their healthcare is communistic,”
I do not even ask you what that means, because there is no way anybody could recognize an any sense in that statement.
“So is the purpose of ObamaCare. Healthcare for all paid, supported planned and executed by government.”
Here we go from nonsense to a deliberate rejection of what can be called the truth. You always bristle at my calling something a lie, but what do you call this outrageous invention?
Michael H. Smith
January 31st, 2013
4:22 pm
When have rightwing GOPers ever been serious about cutting the deficit ?
When they are in power all I see them do is spend spend spend.
They just do it on bombs and blowing people up usually
Same could, in point of fact, be said about democrats. Actually you should trouble yourself to learn history: It is the democrats who led this country into every war/conflict but one during the previous century.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
4:23 pm
Poor Dusty wants to sound educated regarding political matters but never days
Is that considered English ?
If not can someone translate ?
JDW
January 31st, 2013
4:25 pm
@Dusty…”Did you know that the USA is the leading country in the world? No use to start copying those of lesser nature.”
Depends on the subject as to the truth of that remark. As it relates to healthcare why no…no we are not.
The World Health Organization’s ranks the United States as the 37th best health care system out of 191 countries.
National Geographic compares health care expenditures with health outcomes and frequency of doctor visits in 20 other nations. It shows that the U.S. is a major exception, combining extraordinarily high costs, mid-level outcomes and a low frequency of doctor visits.
We rank 34 in infant mortality, 136 in death rate per 1000 and 29th in doctors per capita.
Take heart though we are number one in some areas…
We are number one in obesity
We are number one in cost
And most interestingly we are number one in the percentage of adults that describe themselves as being in good health
My guess is many of us are wearing rose colored glasses.
Michael H. Smith
January 31st, 2013
4:25 pm
Huh?
Its like talking to a wall.
Then your ignorance must surely be that wall. Marxism is very well documented from beginning to end.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 31st, 2013
4:26 pm
It is the democrats who led this country into every war/conflict but one during the previous century.
Yes and they also won WWII
Fighting Nazis if I remember correctly.
Either way I must take my leave of you. You’ve ingested too much kool aid for me.
In the words of Mark Twain.
“Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”