by Owen Canfield, director of the Tax Credit Scholarship program
The Tax Credit Scholarship program is a boon for students and Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. This year, 568 students – 12 percent of overall Catholic school enrollment – received an opportunity scholarship to attend one of the 18 archdiocesan schools.
Those scholarships resulted from the generosity of hundreds of donors. Couples, individuals and businesses combined to give $2 million to the TCS program in 2022. In return, those donors received $1.5 million in state income tax credits.
For qualified business owners, this program is especially beneficial. Whereas the maximum annual state tax credit is $2,000 for couples and $1,000 for single filers, most legal business entities (LLCs, S-corps, C-corps, general partnerships, etc.) can get a credit of up to $100,000 per year.
Businesses can tailor their gift amount based on their tax liability, and thus erase any state taxes they would have otherwise paid. If the business operates as a pass-through, the tax credit on the gift can pass through to the owner’s personal tax liability.
Consequently, corporate gifts have the potential to significantly expand the Tax Credit Scholarship program and help even more young people get a Catholic school education.
Consider: Everyone must pay their state income taxes. The Tax Credit Scholarship program is a way to redirect those monies to provide opportunity scholarships for children in Catholic schools and provide the donor with a nice tax credit (not a tax deduction) in return.
The term “win-win” is trite, but it fits in this case. Students, families, donors and parishes all benefit from gifts to this program.
And for business owners, TCS is an even bigger winner.
Go to tcsok.org to make a gift before Dec. 31. Contact Owen Canfield at [email protected] or call (405) 709-2700.
Owen Canfield is director of the Tax Credit Scholarship program.