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03/28/2024 04:55 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=21945
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 10, 2017 11:47 AM
From: Senator Daylin Leach
To: All Senate members
Subject: Tax Incentives for Employers Who Hire Ex-Felons
 
In the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation which would provide tax incentives for employers who provide employment to ex-offenders recently released from correctional facilities. This legislation is influenced by a Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole study which offered staggering statistics on this growing demographic.

As many of you may know, inmate populations on a national and state level are at all time highs. One out of 31 American adults are under some type of correctional supervision, with over 50,000 inmates here in our Commonwealth. Recidivism rates are extremely high for these individuals due to employment barriers as a result of their incarceration.

Presently 6 states provide these tax credits for the first two years to employers who hire felons. For each taxable year a credit is allowed in an amount equal to 30% of up to the first $6,000 of the wages paid to the qualified ex-felon in the first year of employment, and 20% in the preceding year. Qualified felons shall be released for no more than a year prior to their employment, and work at least twenty hours per week.


This legislation will help alleviate criminal justice expenditures which cripple our state budget, and provide incentives for safer streets within our Commonwealth communities.


If you have questions about this legislation, please contact my Legislative Director, Jon Tew at jtew@pasenate.com or 610-768-4200.



Introduced as SB215