Education appears to be high on the election agenda, as the Prime Minister unveiled her first election promise, offering parents a tax break to cover the cost of school uniforms.  This pledge will cost the government about $220 million over the next four years.

The uniform tax break is an expansion of the existing Education Tax Refund that currently allows claims of up to $390 a year per primary school child or $779 a year for a child in secondary school (indexed) for 50 per cent of the cost of computers, computer equipment, text books and trade tools. The scheme applies to a potential total of 2.1 million children or 1.3 million families. Parents and guardians entitled to Family Tax Benefit Part A, as well as those whose children receive supplementary payments such as Youth Allowance, the Disability Support Pension or Abstudy Living Allowance, are eligible for the Education Tax Refund.  More details of the scheme generally are available in our Briefing here http://csa.edu.au/briefings/national/241-education-tax-refund-faq-for-schools.

If Labor win this year's election families will be able to claim the expanded Education Tax Refund, including uniform expenditure, when they lodge their 2012-13 tax returns.

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