Oklahomans worried about where their money is going,
some of them reaching out to News 4 about the
new parental choice tax credit,
saying money is going to pay off debt before going
to the classroom.
News 4 is Adria Goings is here to break it
all down for us.
Adria Kevin I reached out to the Tax Commission and
they confirmed if you owe back taxes or have a
debt filled filed with the Oklahoma Tax Commission,
money from that tax credit goes to pay off those
debts first and then to your child's education.
But there could be a solution in the works.
There is no transarency built into this.
Some lawmakers still concerned about the way the new parental
choice tax credit is working.
Oklahomans telling News Four they aren't getting what they were
promised,
saying some of the money from their tax credit went
towards debt they owed to the state and not education.
Here's how it works. If you're approved for the tax
credit of,
say, $7000, but you owe $4000 in back taxes,
or another agency reports a debt to the tax Commission,
the Commission then uses the money from your tax credit.
Off those fines, then sends you the rest to be
used for your child's tuition,
meaning taxpayers footing the bill for the school credits are
also paying off someone else's debt.
This is taxpayer money, and we didn't take this seriously.
We tried to implement it too fast.
And then here we have problems right away.
Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat recognizing potential problems with
the tax credit late last year.
We'll practically clean some things up to help them.
But I'm excited about the willingness of the Tax Commission
to work with us authoring a bill this session to
clean up the original legislation.
The 70 page bill focuses on back taxes but is
not specific about other potential debts owed to the Tax
Commission.
Of course we have clean up.
We pointed out that there were going to be problems
with the administration of this and we kept getting dismissed
when we raised all the concerns about logistics because it
matters when it's people's money.
Treats bill hasn't been heard on the Senate floor yet,
but if passed it would go into effect immediately.
We also reached out to the Governor's office for comment
on the way these credits are used,
but we have not heard back.