Action Alert: Help End Taxes On AmeriCorps Education Awards

One of the incentives, and rewards, of AmeriCorps national service is that volunteers receive an education award that can be applied toward higher ed or educational tuition, or to pay off school loans. The award is called the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Education award (fittingly named after national service godfather Eli Segal, who helped launch AmeriCorps and served as the first CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service).

ELI SEGAL: Service Hero

Currently, full-time AmeriCorps volunteers receive a $4,725 award, and it will be increased to $5,350 in 2010, for their year of service (it is pro-rated for part-time service), which is great because it helps Americans who serve their country further their education. But there is a hitch: not only has the amount of the education award lagged inflation since AmeriCorps, but it also taxed as income, a double-whammy.

To address this inequity, Rep. John John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Boustany (R-LA) have united to author HR 1596 to repeal the taxation of AmeriCorps education awards, and the service community has launched a campaign to move the bill through the House Ways and Means Committee and onto the House floor.  And you can help.

If you are CEO of a non-profit or a corporation, or represent one, you can add your organization's name to a letter the service community is sending to Reps. Rangel and Camp, of the Ways and Means Committee, urging them to take action on HR 1596. The letter (read the whole thing here) says in part:

H.R. 1596 addresses an inequity in how the AmeriCorps Education Award is treated compared to
similar forms of scholarships and fellowships. Unlike Pell Grants and the G.I. Education
Benefit, the AmeriCorps Education Award is subject to federal taxation after it is used.
According to the Congressional Research Service, it can be taxed at a rate of 15 percent or more,
and as a result, AmeriCorps members are hit with an unanticipated tax obligation that on average
runs in the hundreds of dollars and can exceed $1,200. H.R. 1596 would exclude the education
award from gross income so that those who serve can apply the full value of the award
towards their higher education.

To add your organization to this letter please send an e-mail to infoATvoicesforservice.org by COB this friday (Oct. 9). Please provide your organization's full name, and your name (or the name of your Executive Director). 

And if you are not a CEO, but you are a believer in AmeriCorps and the idea that those who serve should get all the help possible furthering their education, you can sign a petition (placed by AmeriCorps Alums on Change.org) that calls for an end to taxation of the AmeriCorps education award.

Here is awesome AmeriCorps Alum--and ServiceNation superstar--Diana Epstein to explain further.