Education Policy, Business and Technology

New Senate Tax Plan Doubles Teachers' Deduction for Buying Classroom Supplies

Education Week: In an about-face, an updated Senate tax reform proposal released Tuesday would double the deduction teachers can take for buying supplies for their classrooms.

The bill's changes would allow teachers to deduct $500 from their taxable income for purchases they make out of pocket for their classrooms, from pencils to software. Current law allows individual teachers to take a $250 deduction for those purchases. The new $500 deduction would take effect for income earned in 2018.

It marks a change from the Senate tax blueprint released last week, in which the $250 deduction would have been eliminated. The deduction is "above the line" on tax forms, meaning that teachers don't need to itemize their federal tax returns in order to claim it.

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