Proposed bill would provide tax credit on tuition

by Kaitlin O’Brien

Education expenses including private high school tuition may soon become eligible for a $2500 tax credit for Missouri residents because of a proposed bill called the HB 1133.

A bill was proposed that would allow Missouri residents to claim up to a $2500 tax credit for educational expenses such as tuition from their income taxes.

This would, if passed, affect public, private, parochial elementary or secondary school, and home school in Missouri. This bill was filed in January by Rep. Jay Barnes and has already been introduced and read in the House. If it is passed it is likely to be put into effect January 1, 2013. For this bill to pass it will have to go before and be approved by the house and the senate.

According to Certified Public Accountant Robert Humble, a credit would be put towards the taxes of a Missouri student’s parent or guardian. If this credit paid for all of the taxes that were owed, then the money would go towards next year’s taxes.

The Kansas City diocese says that they have about 1,000 open places in the diocesan schools that could be filled by students whose parents want to take advantage of the tax credit and send their children to a catholic school if this bill gets passed. The diocese says that many people would switch from the unaccredited public school to a catholic school, but they have concerns about the cost of tuition.

Mr. Elliott Curran, who has five children attending Catholic schools, will pay approximately $200,000 for high school tuition once all of his children have graduated.

“It would be a huge saving for a family with so many children like ours,” Curran said.

Mr. Jon Niemuth, who has a daughter at STA, was concerned that the HB 1133 bill might damage the funding for public schools.

“I think it would be a good idea, but it would need to be implemented in a way that was not overtly damaging to the larger public school system,” Niemuth said.