The Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures of the House Ways & Means Committee holds a hearing today on Education Tax Incentives. From the hearing announcement:
The hearing will focus on various tax benefits currently provided for postsecondary education. The Internal Revenue Code currently provides several tax benefits designed to encourage the pursuit of, and assist in the payment for, educational studies beyond the secondary level. The hearing will examine the interaction of many of these benefits, the complexity associated with them, and whether these benefits can be simplified to make them more efficient and effective.
- Panel #1:
- Michael Brostek (Director, Tax Issues, Government Accountability Office)
- Karen Gilbreath Sowell (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Treasury Department)
- Panel #2:
- Debra M. Townsley (President, Nichols College)
- Wayne Watson (Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago)
- Susan Dynarski (Professor, Harvard Kennedy School)
- Dan Ebersole (Director, Georgia Office of Treasury and Fiscal Services)
In connection with the hearing, the Joint Committee on Taxation has released Present Law and Analysis Relating to Tax Benefits for Higher Education (JCX-35-08)
Part One describes in detail the present-law tax benefits relating to higher education, including benefits provided to individuals and private and public providers of education. Part Two includes background data relating to college enrollment and costs, economic analysis of tax benefits for higher education, and discussion of simplification concerns.
