WASHINGTON – The legal challenge to Arizona’s private-school tax-credit program went before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, and justices confronted attorneys on both sides about whether it violates separation of church and state.
In hourlong arguments in the nationally watched case, justices focused heavily on the structure of the tax-credit program, which allows taxpayers to donate up to $1,000 to non-profit organizations that distribute the money as private-school scholarships. Taxpayers then can take a dollar-for-dollar credit off their state income taxes.
Justices focused on whether donations are, in effect, directly steering government money to religious schools, as the challengers argue, or are a taxpayer charity that goes to private-school students, as supporters contend.
Full Story: Arizona’s tuition tax credit debated at U.S. Supreme Court