House Rejects Income Limits on Private School Tax Credit Program
The House rejected an effort to put income limits on the privated school tax-credit program; refusing to establish a “means test” or income requirement for those applying for private school scholarships paid for by the tax-credit program. The private school tax-credit program which was represented to create choice for those with limited means starts to run the risk of looking like, as Representative Steve Farley called it, ”welfare for the rich”.
“What we’re doing is just simply a bailout for rich families so that they can get tax money to pay for a school they were going to pay for anyway because they have the means,” [Rep. Steve Farley, Tucson]. “That way, there is no money saved for the state because that kid wasn’t going to go to a public school in the first place.” He supported a proposal by Rep. Anna Tovar, Tolleson, to limit eligibility to those families whose income is no more than 185 percent of the level the federal government uses to determine if students get reduced-price lunches. (Arizona Daily Sun).((
The House failed to pass an amendment that would allow for the income limits. Votes detail below:
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House Vote Detail:
| Member Name | Vote | Member Name | Vote | Member Name | Vote |
| Edward Ableser | Y | Frank Antenori | V | Cecil P. Ash | N |
| Ray Barnes | NV | Nancy K. Barto | N | Andy Biggs | N |
| Tom Boone | N | David Bradley | Y | Jack A. Brown | Y |
| Judy M. Burges | N | Olivia Cajero Bedford | Y | Chad Campbell | Y |
| Cloves C. Campbell, Jr. | Y | Tom Chabin | NV | Steve Court | N |
| Rich Crandall | N | Christopher Deschene | Y | Adam Driggs | N |
| Steve Farley | Y | Patricia V. Fleming | Y | Martha Garcia | NV |
| Doris Goodale | N | David Gowan | N | Matt Heinz | Y |
| Laurin Hendrix | N | Russell L. Jones | N | John Kavanagh | N |
| Bill Konopnicki | N | Debbie Lesko | N | Phil Lopes | Y |
| David Lujan | Y | Lucy Mason | N | John McComish | N |
| Barbara McGuire | Y | Nancy McLain | N | Eric Meyer | Y |
| Robert Meza | Y | Ben R. Miranda | Y | Steve B. Montenegro | N |
| Rick Murphy | N | Warde V. Nichols | N | Lynne Pancrazi | NV |
| Daniel Patterson | Y | Frank Pratt | N | Doug Quelland | N |
| Michele Reagan | N | Amanda A. Reeve | N | David Schapira | Y |
| Carl Seel | N | Kyrsten Sinema | Y | David W. Stevens | N |
| Andrew M. Tobin | N | Anna Tovar | Y | Rae Waters | Y |
| Jim Weiers | N | Jerry Weiers | N | Vic Williams | N |
| Steven B. Yarbrough | N | Nancy Young Wright | Y | Kirk Adams | N |
AYES: 22 NAYS: 33 NOT VOTING: 4 EXCUSED: 0 VACANT: 1
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Sponsor of HB 2664, Rep. Rick Murphy, agreed to pull back his recommendation to increase the private tax-credit contribution rates to school tuition organizations (STOs) from $500 for individuals to $750, and $1,000 for families to $1,500 after legislators from both sides of the aisle questioned the fiscal impact at a time when the state is facing a significant financial crisis.
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Read AEN’s Private Tax-Credit Articles:
Arizona’s Private Tax-Credit Program: How We Got Here and Where are We Going?
Legislators Propose Private Tax-Credit Increases While Governor Proposes Funding Cuts to GED Funding
There They Go Again: House Ways and Means Committee Triples Private Tax-Credits
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Related News Articles:
House rejects income-limit changes to taxpayer-funded scholarships ~ AZ Daily Sun, Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, 3/5/2010
What a shame ~ especially for the lower income families that this tax credit was originally intended for. I also noticed that STO Kingpin Steve Yarbrough didn’t excuse himself from voting again…how long before his scam makes national headlines?
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