Maryland voters favor a proposal to create an education credit that would provide business a tax credit worth about 60 percent of their donations toward education assistance for the state’s students.
According to the results of a survey released last November by Opinion Works, a polling organization based in Annapolis, “more than six in 10 voters support the proposal and place great value on its potential to help lower- and middle-income families obtain a quality education.”
One-quarter of the state’s voters support such a tax credit proposal “strongly,” and another back it “somewhat,” according to Opinion Works.
The following was the description of a Maryland Education Credit that people in the survey heard:
The credit proposed “would financially assist lower- and middle-income students and their families through donations from businesses that would be encouraged by the tax credit. The business donations would be managed by nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to both public and nonpublic school students. Public school students would receive assistance to cover things such as books, tutoring, or special education services. Nonpublic school students would receive scholarships to help pay for tuition. Nonpublic schools that charge higher tuition would not be eligible for the program.”
Following giving their initial reaction to the tax credit proposal, Opinion Works asked Maryland voters to “assess broadly why they felt that way.”
According to the survey, voters who supported the concept “focused on the financial help the Education Credit will provide to lower-income students, and the better access it could provide children to the highest quality education.” Supporters also said they value “encouragement it gives businesses to provide more support for education.”
Opinion Works surveyed 600 randomly selected Maryland registered voters in August 2015, using trained and supervised live interviewers. The findings have a potential sampling error of no more than plus or minus four percent, according to the firm.
For more information on the Maryland Education Credit go to www.educationmaryland.org.
