Barletta Supports Tax Reforms to Benefit Parents, Students, Charities

Press Release

Congressman Lou Barletta, PA-11, has voted for House passage of a package of tax reforms designed to benefit parents and students, as well as to encourage charitable contributions by individuals. Each piece of legislation has passed the House of Representatives and now moves to the Senate for consideration.

"Whether you are a parent, a student trying to complete your education, or someone wanting to make charitable contributions, our national policy should be to allow you to make decisions on how best to handle your own money," Barletta said. "Folks in Washington, DC ought to always remember: it's not the government's money, it's the people's money."

Child Tax Credit

The Child Tax Credit Improvement Act (H.R. 4935) makes it easier to take advantage of the current child tax credit by increasing the phase-out income threshold for married couples filing joint tax returns from $110,000 to $150,000. The threshold is $75,000 for individuals or married couples filing separately. The bill also requires filers to provide a Social Security Number in order for the tax credit to be refundable, meaning that children claimed under the tax credit must have a Social Security Number. The bill indexes the tax credit to inflation.

Student Taxes

The Student and Family Tax Simplification Act (H.R. 3393) consolidates four tax credits to make it easier for students to go to college: the American Opportunity Tax Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, the Hope Scholarship Credit, and the college tuition deduction into a single, permanent American Opportunity Tax Credit.

The new American Opportunity Tax Credit:

Makes the first $2,000 of qualified tuition and expenses 100 percent deductable from a taxpayer's liability.
Makes 25 percent of the next $2,000 of qualified tuition and expense deductible from a taxpayer's liability with an overall cap of $2,500 on the amount deducted.
Allows tax filers who do not have a tax liability to receive a refundable tax credit of up to $1,500.
Ensures that all Pell Grants are not considered taxable income regardless of how they are used.
Charitable Contributions

Barletta also supported a series of five bills passed by the House that make it easier for people to contribute to charitable organizations:

The Fighting Hunger Incentive Act (H.R. 4719) makes permanent the enhanced deduction for contributions of food inventory by any type of business.
The Permanent IRA Charitable Contribution Act (H.R. 4619) makes permanent a provision allowing tax-free distributions from Individual Retirement Accounts for charitable purposes.
The Conservation Easement Incentive Act (H.R. 2807) makes permanent the temporary deduction for contributions of conservation easements.
The Charitable Giving Extension Act (H.R. 3134) allows individual taxpayers to deduct charitable contributions made after the close of the tax year but before the due date of the return (April 15 of a calendar year) for the tax year covered by the return.
The Private Foundation Excise Tax Simplification Act (H.R. 4691) amends the Internal Revenue Code to set the excise tax rate on net investment income of private foundations at 1 percent.

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