Payroll Tax Credit

In 2022, the House of Representatives passed an important proposal to help save local news.  The idea: provide news organizations with a refundable tax credit for hiring and retaining local reporters.   It would have provided news organizations with up to $25,000 in support per reporter in the program’s first year, and $15,000 after that.

The idea is elegant in its simplicity. No government agency deciding who gets what. No lengthy grant applications.  Simple criteria for what counts as a local news organization.  Available to for-profits and nonprofits; mom-and-pop papers, and metro dailies.

It has a nice incentive structure – if you cut your staff in half, you cut your benefit in half. If you hire more local reporters, you get more.

It would be the most significant government in generations – including for organizations covering communities of color, rural areas.

Congress is still considering the proposal

To learn more:

• • The basics
  • Detailed breakdown of the legislative language 
  • Case study of the Baltimore Afro American
  • Statements of support by the Black Publishers, Hispanic Publishers and Community Foundations
  • Fact Check