Two bills that would cut taxes for Pennsylvanians in two very different circumstances advanced through a state Senate panel on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One would allow living organ donors to deduct costs related to their donation.<\/p>\n
While employers across the state are allowed to claim tax deductions for time off offered to living organ donors, donors themselves receive no such benefits.<\/p>\n
That would change if lawmakers pass a bill<\/a> sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny) and Lynda Schlegel Culver (R-Northumberland), who testified to members of the Senate Finance Committee almost five years to the date after receiving her sister\u2019s kidney.<\/p>\n She told senators she spent three years on an organ transplant waiting list.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen firsthand the gift of donation and what it means,\u201d Culver told lawmakers. \u201cIt has allowed me and so many others the opportunity to have a full life.\u201d<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX<\/a><\/p>\n According to the University of Pennsylvania Health System, more than 6,000 Pennsylvanians were on the transplant waiting list in 2025.<\/p>\n Culver and Williams\u2019 proposal would allow living organ donors to deduct up to $10,000 in unreimbursed expenses related to the donation from their taxable income. That would include costs like travel, lodging, lost wages and medical expenses.<\/p>\n According to Culver, studies show the average living organ donor faces roughly $5,000 in expenses, which includes things like travel, lost wages and child care during recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cIf only a tiny percent of adults find it a little easier to become a living donor, we could eliminate our transplant waiting list entirely,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n The measure was passed unanimously by members of the Senate Finance Committee.<\/p>\n