- Applies only to social workers with accredited BSW, MSW or Ph. D./DSW degrees who are currently paying back their qualified student loans.
- Applies only to social workers employed by public or non-profit entities who serve children, adults, families, or seniors who are eligible for public benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, foster care, domestic violence assistance, or other public benefit programs.
- Encourages social workers to provide social work services in Oregon's rural and frontier counties by rewarding the most rural locations with the greatest incentive.
The Mechanism
This legislation would allow social workers who meet the criteria above to claim a tax credit against their state income taxes equal to the student loan interest they paid during the previous tax year. The maximum credits are:
- $1,500/yr. for social workers working in counties with populations less than 10,000.
- $1,000/yr. for those working in counties with populations between 10,000 and 100,000.
- $500/yr. for those working in counties with populations of 100,000 or more.
The amount of the tax credit a social worker receives will decrease as the amount of interest paid declines from year to year.
A bill that could offer a more generous form of loan forgiveness for social workers would be extraordinary. However, HB 2407 is a small but important step towards alleviating the financial burden for social workers by offering them a tax credit for the interest they pay on their student loans. We recognize that these are extremely trying times for the state of Oregon due to the budget shortfall. However, we also recognize that social workers in Oregon are going to be in more demand than ever during this economic recession as increasing numbers of families struggle with the financial and emotional stressors that result from being underemployed and unemployed.
