A massive Pa. corporate tax break lacks basic accountability, report finds

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The failures are not the result of poor oversight, but rather an explicit effort by lawmakers to limit the information that is collected about the tax credit program.

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HARRISBURG — A ballooning corporate tax break in Pennsylvania worth an estimated $280 million annually operates with little accountability and lacks even the most basic data to determine if it’s actually effective.

Supporters say the program offers a lifeline to low-income students trapped in failing public schools. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, approximately 68,400 students received scholarships funded by businesses looking to save money on their state taxes. A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff did not respond to a request for comment about the fiscal office’s findings. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward was not able to provide a response before publication.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Tom Wolf said the administration supports the fiscal office’s recommendations and anticipates that Democrats will introduce new legislation to require more transparency from the program after Wolf’s budget address, scheduled for Feb. 8. The program is capped at $55 million per year, an amount of funding that the legislature has increased at a much slower rate than the larger, less targeted scholarship program. More than three-quarters of the scholarship funds went to low-income recipients in the 2019-20 fiscal year, the report found.

Nearly half of scholarship applicants are turned away each year because of the cap on the tax credits, state Sen. Mike Regan , the bill’s sponsor, wrote in a legislative memo. “When we force kids to remain in a designated school simply because of their ZIP code, we are doing them a complete and utter disservice,” he said.

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