The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument, were prepared by Riley Boudreaux.
DIGEST
SB 223 Original 2015 Regular Session Donahue
Proposed law establishes the Student Adjustment for a Valuable Education (SAVE) Credit Program
granting two credits against individual and corporate income tax and corporate franchise tax:
(1)A SAVE Fee Credit. A transferable, "nonrefundable" credit against sales and use, gasoline
and special fuels, and income tax liability of a student, or his parent or legal guardian, for
amounts the student, or his parent or legal guardian, is required to pay to a public institution
of postsecondary education for enrollment of the student on and after July 1, 2015, for a fee
designated by the institution as a Student Adjustment for a Valuable Education (SAVE) fee
(hereafter, "SAVE fee").
(2) A SAVE Scholarship Credit. A credit against income and franchise tax liability for the
amount of donations made on and after July 1, 2015, to any nonprofit entity designated by
a public institution of postsecondary education for the purpose of funding the payment of
SAVE fees or such other purposes as the institution requires.
The type of the two tax credits above and the total amount of such tax credits which may be granted
in each fiscal year is to be determined by the institution's management board, from the allocation of
the credits made to the management board by the Board of Regents.
The total amount of tax credit which may be utilized by all public institutions of postsecondary
education during a fiscal year shall be the net increase in the taxes collected during each fiscal year
from the tobacco taxes in Chapter 8 of Title 47 as a result of the enactment of the Act which will
originate as House Bill No. _____ of the 2015 RS, as determined by the Revenue Estimating
Conference and approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
Once the total amount of tax credit which may be utilized by all public institutions of postsecondary
education during a fiscal year is determined as provided above, the Board of Regents shall determine
and provide written notification to each postsecondary education management board of the
following:
(1)The amount of tax credit allocated to each management board based upon the proportion of
full-time equivalent students enrolled in the public postsecondary education institutions
supervised by each board to the total number of full-time equivalent students enrolled in all
Louisiana public postsecondary education institutions.
(2)The amount of each type of tax credit, the SAVE Fee Credit or the SAVE Scholarship Credit,
which is included in each management board's allocation. Each management board shall, in turn, determine and provide written notification to each public
postsecondary education institution supervised by the board of the amount of each type of tax credit,
the SAVE Fee Credit or the SAVE Scholarship Credit, which may be utilized by the institution.
Proposed law provides that the SAVE Fee Credit shall be obtained and used solely as follows:
(1)The student or the student's parent or legal guardian who is liable for payment of the fee, as
a condition for receiving the tax credit, must transfer the SAVE Fee Credit to the institution
and provide the institution such information that the institution may be reasonably required
to obtain by the Department of Revenue in order to facilitate the application and funding of
the credit. The Department of Revenue must only fund the SAVE Fee Credits to the public
institutions of postsecondary education, as transferees of the credits.
(2)The credit must be calculated by the institution and granted to him according to the amount
of all applicable payments of state taxes for the tax year which is attributable to his income
according to the most recent edition of the Consumer Expenditure Survey of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor.
(3)The tax credit must then be transferred to the institution charging the fee for 100% of the face
value of the credit.
(4)The institution charging the fee designated by the institution as a SAVE fee must accept the
transfer of the tax credit as full or partial payment of the fee as the case may be.
(5)Upon transfer, the institution must notify the Department of Revenue and provide it with
such documentation of the transfer that may be required by the department. The department
must make payment to the institution in the amount to which it is entitled from the current
collections of the tobacco taxes.
Proposed law provides that the SAVE Scholarship Credit shall be obtained and used solely as
follows:
(1)A public institution of postsecondary education is authorized to designate a nonprofit entity
to fund the payment of SAVE fees levied by the institution or to fund such other purposes
as the institution requires by receiving donations for such funding from taxpayers up to the
amount of the SAVE Scholarship Credit allocated to the institution from its supervising
management board.
(2)Donations made to such nonprofit entity up to the amount allocated entitles the donors to a
credit for the amount of their donations, to be taken against the applicable tax due in the tax
year in which the credit is earned, but the credit is not refundable.
(3)The donations to the institution may be used for the payment of SAVE fees levied by the
institution for those students or the students' parents or legal guardians who do not have a
sufficient SAVE Fee Credit to offset the entire SAVE fee or to fund such other purposes as the institution requires.
Proposed law prohibits a student or a student's parent or legal guardian from being required to pay
a SAVE fee not offset by a SAVE Fee Credit or a payment from a SAVE Scholarship donation,
unless they failed to provide the information required for the SAVE Fee Credit.
Applicable to all income tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2015, and franchise tax years
beginning on and after January 1, 2016.
Effective upon signature of the governor or lapse of time for gubernatorial action.
(Adds R.S. 47:6039)