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Show Tax deductions due families WASHINGTON, D.C. Families which host Indian students during the school year will be allowed to claim higher income tax deductions under legislation sponsored by Senator Jake Garn (R-Utah). Garn and Sen. David Durenberger (R- Minn.) have introduced S. 1840, which would increase the deduction from the current $50 to $100 per month (up to $1000 per year) lor families which house students as part of educational exchange programs. "My interest in this measure extends beyond the more familiar foreign exchange programs to a unique program that enhances the education opportunities of Indian students whose families reside on reservations," Garn said. That program, Garn said, is the Indian Placement Program sponsored by the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Latter-day Saints. It was instituted in 1954 with only 68 students, and over 25,000 primary and secondary students have participated since. The students leave their families and homes on the reservations in New Mexico, Arizona, South Dakota and Montana to live with sponsoring families in Utah, Idaho and California during the school year. Gam said "the program offers the Indian children a much broader education, both academically and socially, than is available on the reservation. As they reach adulthood, the education they have acquired enables them to qualify lor entrance into .colleges and universities or productive occupations that otherwise probably would not have been open to them." |