Providing Skills for Life
“Own A Business, Want A Tax Credit?”
Baltimore Reads, Inc. is a participating agency in the Maryland Department of Housing
and Community Development’s Community Investment Tax Credit [CITC] program.
How does this program work?
Baltimore Reads is selling tax credits.
An organization purchases our tax credits by making a donation to Baltimore Reads
to support our Ripken Learning Center.
In return, the organization receives state tax credits of up to 50% of the donated amount
in addition to state and federal tax deductions. The organization can pay as little as 27 cents
for each dollar contributed after tax credits and deductions are applied.
Below are FAQs from the CITC website.
To learn more about the program, call us at 410-
CITC frequently asked questions...
What are Community Investment Tax Credits?
Community Investment Tax Credits (CITC are a different way for worthy non-
How do tax credits work?
The non-
How do non-
An eligible business donates $500 or more to a non-
and the business gets $250 in credits off of their tax liability
Is it a tax deduction?
No, a tax deduction reduces the amount of income that is taxed,
but a tax credit directly reduces the amount of tax that is paid
Is a tax credit is better than a tax deduction?
Yes, because a tax credit directly reduces the amount of tax that is paid
Where do these tax credits come from?
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
awards them to non-
Is this a new program?
No, under different names the program has been around for 10 years
and has helped more than 300 Maryland non-
Why haven’t I heard of it before?
The state awards only $1 million in tax credits each year and about half of them
go to non-
What happens to the other half?
Each year the state tries to award credits to new groups so that they can use them to raise money.