At this point, many in Arkansas are familiar with the LEARNS Act and the resulting Education Freedom Accounts, the public dollars used for private and home school vouchers. But most Arkansans are likely unfamiliar with the Education Choice for Children Act of 2025 (ECCA), a federal bill introduced in Congress. The ECCA would create an unprecedented 100% tax credit for donations to nonprofits that give out private K-12 school vouchers and create a lucrative tax shelter that would further enrich some of America’s wealthiest individuals. If passed, the ECCA would cost $136.3 billion in revenue over the next decade, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. 

The ECCA would allow the wealthy to use this profitable tax shelter regardless of whether they had any actual interest in supporting private K-12 school vouchers. That’s because the government would agree to pay out $136 billion in tax cuts in return for $126 billion of contributions to voucher funds. In other words, the ECCA would harness wealthy families’ interest in tax avoidance and personal profit as a means of driving interest in private school vouchers, a cause that remains unpopular with the overall public across the U.S. 

The 100% tax credit under this bill is a sharp departure from how the federal government treats most types of contributions to nonprofits. Typically, people contributing to nonprofits that support wounded veterans, survivors of domestic violence, victims of natural disasters, or other charitable endeavors receive, at most, a tax deduction valued at 37% of their contribution. 

Of the $136.3 billion in lost revenue over the next decade, $134 billion would be federal revenue and $2.3 billion would be spread across the states. The analysis has state-by-state numbers to show the local impact. Arkansas would lose $200,000 next year alone, and $3.7 million over the next 10 years in capital gains tax avoidance. 

Across the country, the money would flow from the public to three main groups of beneficiaries: private schools would receive 85% ($115.7 billion), voucher-bundling organizations would receive 7% ($10.1 billion), and wealthy donors would receive 8% ($10.5 billion) as personal profit. The personal profit element is enabled by the legislation allowing donors to give corporate stock and avoid capital gains taxes. ECCA’s supporters appear to be counting on this tax shelter as a means of driving donor interest in private school vouchers among wealthy investors. 

The federal Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025, introduced as H.R. 833 and S. 292, would provide a windfall for the wealthiest citizens in the United States. But it would greatly reduce federal and state revenue while harming public education across the country. 

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