Over the last two decades, $2.6 billion has been funneled out of Pennsylvania state coffers through the school voucher tax credit programs that give tax breaks to corporations donating to private or religious schools. State records show that the largest beneficiary of the school voucher tax credit programs is a company led by the state’s richest man and prolific school privatization advocate, billionaire Jeff Yass. Entities led by billionaire Susquehanna International Group co-founders Jeffrey Yass, Joel Greenberg, and Arthur Dantchik, with addresses at the SIG headquarters, made up the top 3 beneficiaries of the tax credit from 2017 to 2023. During this time period, the three entities registered to these billionaires received tax credits worth $30.6 million from the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs, meaning they got 90% of the $33.98 million they contributed back in tax savings. In addition to the tax credit, these programs have been associated with a practice called “triple dipping,” where it is possible for some but not all donors to profit as much as 27% from their school voucher contributions by using their contribution to lower their state and federal tax liability– effectively generating a tax savings larger than their donation. We do not know if the entities led by Jeffrey Yass, Joel Greenberg, and Arthur Dantchik have engaged in “triple dipping” or were eligible to do so.
Funding allocated for these scholarship tax credits has grown exponentially since their inception. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) grew from $160 million in 2018 to $540 million in 2025, while the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) grew from $50 million to $90 million in the same time period. On the other hand, spending on basic public school education has only kept up with the rate of inflation. The exponential increase in school voucher tax credits occurred at the same time as Jeffrey Yass’s increased political spending in Pennsylvania. He went from spending just a few million per year on elections in 2018 to spending more than $35 million in the 2024 election.
These expensive tax credit programs must be reexamined, particularly as they could be giving some wealthy donors the opportunity to profit from their donations in a time when public education investment lags far behind need. Eliminating the EITC and OSTC can save the state $630 million annually, and provide crucial investments in underfunded schools.