It’s Tax Day in America, and for many teachers, tax season serves as a sobering reminder of just how much money they have to spend out of their own pockets on their classrooms versus how little they’re able to claim for deductions.
The educator expense deduction was enacted 20 years in ago in 2002, allowing teachers to deduct up to $250 of out-of-pocket classroom expenses when filing their federal tax returns. For the 2021 tax year being filed now, the maximum deduction is still $250.
That’s right, the teacher expense deduction has remained unchanged from the 2002 through 2021 tax years.
The problem?
Teachers spend an average of $750 of their own money each year on classroom expenses — 3 times the amount they’re able to deduct.
https://twitter.com/NikiLynn14/status/1514720822979706884?s=20&t=m-ZWIi4jiTvwYD0B_t6M2A
In total, teachers across the US shelled out approximately $2.8 billion on essential items to help their students succeed, like books, software, pencils, paper, cleaning supplies, and other materials.
Many have argued that teacher deductions pale in comparison to those afforded to other industries.
And before anyone says, “Well I’m a [insert any trade] and I have to buy my supplies!”
That is true, you do… BUT YOU CAN ALSO WRITE OFF EVERY PENNY SPENT ON SUPPLIES (AND EVEN TRAVEL) ON YOUR TAXES. Teachers only get $250. https://t.co/0BNAJaehFX
— Nicholas Ferroni (@NicholasFerroni) December 15, 2021
Some teachers are even spending thousands of dollars each year on classroom expenses, eating the cost themselves.
About $250 PER MONTH
— Andria Morrison, MA Ed. (@mrsmorrison2019) February 20, 2020
In fact, teacher spending on classroom supplies has increased by 25% just since 2015. Meanwhile, their salaries aren’t even keeping up with inflation, and they’re still only allowed to deduct the same amount for expenses they were two decades ago.
If there’s one small bit of good news, it’s that the annual deduction limit for educators will increase slightly to $300 for the 2022 tax year and will rise in $50 increments in future years based on inflation adjustments, but the reality is that’s still not nearly enough.
At a time when we’re dealing with a serious shortage of educators (there are 567,000 fewer teachers on the job now than there were before the pandemic and a reported 55% of those still teaching are considering leaving the profession sooner than they originally planned), is it really wise to make things harder than they need to be for teachers?
If you’re a teacher, we’d love to hear from you. How much do you spend in an average school year on supplies for your classroom?