II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2287 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against 

income tax for contributions to a trust used to provide need-based college 

scholarships. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 17, 2012 

Mr. COONS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a 

credit against income tax for contributions to a trust 

used to provide need-based college scholarships. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Communities Com5 mitted to College Tax Credit Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO A TRUST USED TO 

2 PROVIDE NEED-BASED COLLEGE SCHOLAR3 SHIPS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub5 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

6 1986 (relating to other credits) is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 30E. CONTRIBUTIONS TO TRUST USED TO PROVIDE 

9 NEED-BASED COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS. 

10 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In addition to any 

11 deduction allowable under this title, there shall be allowed 

12 as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for 

13 the taxable year an amount equal to 50 percent of des14 ignated qualified college scholarship funding contributions 

15 made by the taxpayer during the taxable year. 

16 ‘‘(b) DESIGNATED QUALIFIED COLLEGE SCHOLAR17 SHIP FUNDING CONTRIBUTION.—For purposes of this 

18 section— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘designated quali20 fied college scholarship funding contribution’ means 

21 any charitable contribution (as defined in section 

22 170(c))— 

23 ‘‘(A) which is paid in cash by the taxpayer 

24 to a qualified scholarship funding trust, and 

25 ‘‘(B) which is designated by the trust for 

26 purposes of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING

2 TRUST.—The term ‘qualified scholarship funding 

3 trust’ means a trust— 

4 ‘‘(A) which is established and maintained 

5 in the United States by an organization— 

6 ‘‘(i) described in section 501(c)(3) and 

7 exempt from tax under section 501(a), and 

8 ‘‘(ii) organized primarily for edu9 cational purposes, 

10 ‘‘(B) which is part of a plan of one or 

11 more local education agencies (as defined in 

12 section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

13 Education Act of 1965) of the State in which 

14 such trust is established and maintained to pro15 vide scholarships to children of such agencies, 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(C) the written governing instrument of 

18 which— 

19 ‘‘(i) requires that the income of the 

20 trust be used exclusively to provide quali21 fied scholarships (as defined in section 

22 117(b)) to individuals who— 

23 ‘‘(I) are candidates for a degree 

24 at an institution of higher education 

25 (within the meaning given such term 


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1 by section 101 of the Higher Edu2 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(II) have demonstrated financial 

5 need in accordance with section 471 

6 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1087kk), and 

7 ‘‘(ii) requires that the assets of the 

8 trust not be distributed for any purpose. 

9 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is a national quali11 fied college scholarship funding contribution limita12 tion of $1,000,000,000. 

13 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF LIMITATION.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Such national limita15 tion shall be allocated by the Secretary among 

16 the qualified scholarship funding trusts which 

17 have registered with the Secretary on or before 

18 the 180th day after the date of the enactment 

19 of this section. Each trust’s share of such na20 tional limitation shall be the amount which 

21 bears the same ratio to such limitation as the 

22 number of school age children of such trust’s 

23 sponsoring agencies bears to the aggregate 

24 number of school age children of the sponsoring 


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1 agencies of all trusts which have so registered 

2 with the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(B) SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN OF SPON4 SORING AGENCIES.—For purposes of subpara5 graph (A), the number of school age children of 

6 a trust’s sponsoring agencies is the number of 

7 children of the local education agencies referred 

8 to in subsection (b)(2)(B) who have attained 

9 age 5 but not age 18 for the most recent fiscal 

10 year ending before the date the allocations 

11 under this paragraph are made. 

12 ‘‘(3) DESIGNATION SUBJECT TO ALLOCATED

13 LIMITATION AMOUNT.—The amount of contributions 

14 made to a qualified scholarship funding trust which 

15 may be designated by such trust for purposes of this 

16 section shall not exceed the limitation amount allo17 cated to such trust under paragraph (2). 

18 ‘‘(4) MAXIMUM ALLOCATION PER TRUST.—The 

19 maximum qualified college scholarship funding con20 tribution limitation which may be allocated to each 

21 trust is $200,000,000. An amount which may not be 

22 allocated to a trust by reason of the preceding sen23 tence shall be allocated as provided in paragraph (2) 

24 among registered qualified scholarship funding 


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1 trusts whose allocated limitation (without regard to 

2 this sentence) does not exceed $200,000,000. 

3 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) BUSINESS CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF

5 GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.—So much of the credit 

6 which would be allowed under subsection (a) for any 

7 taxable year (determined without regard to this sub8 section) to a taxpayer engaged in a trade or business 

9 shall be treated as a credit listed in section 38(b) for 

10 such taxable year (and not allowed under subsection 

11 (a)). 

12 ‘‘(2) PERSONAL CREDIT.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 

14 title, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for 

15 any taxable year (determined after application 

16 of paragraph (1)) shall be treated as a credit 

17 allowable under subpart A for such taxable 

18 year. 

19 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION BASED ON AMOUNT OF

20 TAX.—In the case of a taxable year to which 

21 section 26(a)(2) does not apply, the credit al22 lowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year 

23 (determined after application of paragraph (1)) 

24 shall not exceed the excess of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the sum of the regular tax liabil2 ity (as defined in section 26(b)) plus the 

3 tax imposed by section 55, over 

4 ‘‘(ii) the sum of the credits allowable 

5 under subpart A (other than this section 

6 and sections 23 and 25D) and section 27 

7 for the taxable year. 

8 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 

9 apply only to contributions made during the 3-year period 

10 beginning on the 180th day after the date of the enact11 ment of this section.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

13 (1) Sections 24(b)(3)(B), 25A(i)(5)(B), 

14 25B(g)(2), 26(a)(1), 30(c)(2)(B)(ii), 

15 30B(g)(2)(B)(ii), 904(i), and 1400C(d)(2) of such 

16 Code are each amended by striking ‘‘and 30D’’ and 

17 inserting ‘‘30D, and 30E’’. 

18 (2) Section 25(e)(1)(C)(ii) of such Code is 

19 amended by inserting ‘‘30E,’’ after ‘‘30D,’’. 

20 (3) Section 30D(c)(2)(B)(ii) of such Code is 

21 amended by striking ‘‘and 25D’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

22 25D, and 30E’’. 

23 (4) Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by 

24 striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), by 

25 striking the period at the end of paragraph (36) and 


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1 inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(37) the portion of the credit to which section 

4 30E(d)(1) applies.’’. 

5 (5) The table of sections for subpart B of part 

6 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following new 

8 item: 

‘‘Sec. 30E. Contributions to trust used to provide need-based college scholarships.’’. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall apply to contributions made on or after 

11 the 180th day after the date of the enactment of this Act 

12 in taxable years ending after such date. 

Æ 


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