Organizations and private entities associated with Jeffrey Yass, Pennsylvania’s wealthiest billionaire and a Republican megadonor, have been the top recipients of tax credits associated with the commonwealth’s two main school voucher programs, according to a new report by the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) and the LittleSis Public Accountability Initiative.
According to the report, entities associated with Yass, Joel Greenburg, and Arthur Dantchik, co-founders of the trading firm Susquehanna International Group, were the top three beneficiaries of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC).
From 2017 to 2023, the three billionaires contributed $33.98 million to the two voucher programs and received more than $30 million in tax credits during that time, according to the report.
“Pennsylvania voters were sold a bill of goods about school voucher tax credits,” Aly Shaw, Senior Researcher with LittleSis, said in a statement. “Upon closer examination it appears to be a cash cow for the richest man in the state.”
These two voucher programs, which use taxpayer dollars to fund tuition for students going to private or religious schools, have ballooned in size since 2017 while public education funding only kept pace with the rate of inflation. The EITC program grew from $160 million in 2018 to $540 million in 2025, while the OSTC program grew from $50 million to $90 million in that same time period.
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Pennsylvania is one of 12 states that allow corporations or wealthy individuals to “triple dip” and profit off of their voucher donations via state and federal tax breaks on top of the tax credit itself.
If an individual or entity donates $200,000 to a scholarship program, they could receive a $180,000 tax credit, which amounts to 90% of their original donation, and then save an additional $74,000 in state and federal income taxes. In the end, they would have made $254,000, or a 27% profit, off of their original donation.
As he was contributing to the voucher programs, Yass saw his personal wealth grow from roughly $2 billion in 2018 to over $65.7 billion in 2026, thanks to his investments in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.
Yass also started flexing his political muscle during this time period by spending over $75 million in Pennsylvania’s elections and becoming one of the top Republican donors on federal elections.
Funding voucher-friendly conservative lawmakers has become one of Yass’ top political priorities, and he has used his wealth to influence the voucher debate in states like Texas.
“Jeffrey Yass’s secretive spending has dire consequences to the children in our state,” Maria Hernandez, a member and leader of Make the Road Action PA, said in a statement.
“Yass’s spending should be interrogated and expensive tax credit programs must be reined in, especially as public education resources lag in our state.”
