Rep Tom Demmer | tomdemmer.org
Rep Tom Demmer | tomdemmer.org
Illinois legislators have introduced a bill to make the Invest in Kids tax credit a permanent one, and to remove a provision that would end the credit on Jan. 1, 2023. The Invest in Kids Act provides a tax credit of $.75 of every $1 donated to a qualified scholarship granting institution.
And, for the 2022 budget cycle, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has announced plans to reduce the amount of the tax credit from 75% to 40%. This would add up to $14 million to Illinois’ General Fund.
In a video posted to his Facebook page on May 20, Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) spoke in favor of the Invest in Kids program, sharing the stories of families who have seen the benefit of the scholarship programs.
“The Westhoff family is a family of seven, five children. Curt writes that his children are ‘19, 17, 14, 12, and 5. We both work in the public sector, and even with the financial aid that St. Mary’s school is offering, we probably were going to have to make some tough decisions, but Empower Illinois and the Invest in Kids scholarship program came on the scene, it’s been phenomenal. It’s lifted a great burden off our shoulders. It would not have been possible to send our children to these schools that we would have liked them to attend without these scholarships,'” Demmer read from a letter from his constituents.
According to Illinois Policy, this cut would seriously affect working-class and minority families in Illinois. The organization says that Empower Illinois identifies nearly half (49%) of the scholarship recipient families who benefit from this program as black or Hispanic.
Pritzker’s intention to reduce the Invest in Kids tax credit comes as he boosts public school funding by $350 million. He previously announced that he wanted to withhold that funding increase (which is built into the 2017 school funding formula), but changed his mind as lawmakers geared up to argue and fight for that money.
And now legislators are fighting again.
“There are tens of thousands of kids on waiting lists hoping to one day get access to these scholarships that provide them opportunities that financially their families would not otherwise be able to offer,” said Demmer.
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