This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, April 4th, 2011.

I'm Caleb Brown.

When is tax revenue not collected property of the state?

And under what circumstances should you be able to spend

your own money on religious education? These issues are at the heart of a new

Supreme Court ruling on education tax credits.

The Supreme Court overturned a Ninth Circuit decision and upheld the right of taxpayers to essentially do what they wish with their own money.

Unfortunately, the Ninth Circuit had ruled that they couldn't take a credit from the government a waiver of their obligation to pay taxes

and spend that money supporting the education of children in religious schools.

Today the Supreme Court vacated that decision.

Now this is a debate that you guys have with school choice people within the school choice movement

all the time between vouchers and tax credits,

vouchers do pass through the doors of government,

the money that will be used for vouchers does pass through the doors of government

and then is delegated back to parents.

Tax credits are monies that never actually go to the government at all and yet there are

four members of the Supreme Court who say

because that's the case you may not you we don't think you should be able to use

this money in in a way that you see fit?

That's right.

Four justices, the liberal wing, so to speak, voted the opposite, that taxpayers can't direct their own money in the way that they see fit. the

opposite that that taxpayers can't direct their own money in the way that they see fit.

...