Tax Credits for Homeschooling and Independent School Tuition Costs

H.3339 is a reintroduction of last session’s H.4624. If passed H.3339 would represent a significant step on the road to school choice for all South Carolina children and parents. The bill would allow for up to $5,000 in annual tax relief for parents or guardians who either home school their children or pay tuition for their children to attend an independent school. Unlike past reform efforts, the tax relief provided in this bill would come in the form of a credit rather than a deduction, this change will allow lower income families to take full advantage of the tax relief and enable them to actually pay the entire average independent school tuition. It is also worth noting that the tax credit is not limited to any specific South Carolina population but would be available to all families with students eligible for South Carolina elementary or secondary public schools. While not a panacea or a ‘be all, end all’ on school choice, this bill represents one of the strongest policies in favor of school choice that has been introduced by the legislature so far.