School Choice Tax Credit Saves Money in IL

An analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute of the Illinois Education Expense Tax Credit finds that an increase on the cap for that credit to $4,000 per child would save taxpayers $3.5 billion over 10 years. The savings would occur when families choose lower cost schools of choice rather than public schools (per pupil expense in IL is over $11,000, similar to here in Pennsylvania).

The Illinois tax credit differs from Pennsylvania's EITC, in that it allows parents to take a tax credit for educational expenditures (tuition, books, et. al) for children in grades K-12. (For more details on this program, and others across the country, see The ABCs of School Choice, produced by the Friedman Foundation.

An individual tax credit would be one avenue to reduce property taxes in Pennsylvania, a variation on our model Property Tax Relief Scholarship Act. For how school choice saves PA taxpayers, read The Dollars and Sense of School Choice.