I don’t care why that is. Do you think I have the means to attend a private college? If not, do I simply not deserve a college education?
There are many ways to solve that without privatizing the school system, like making education spending (and federal spending in general, for that matter) more transparent.
As long as we’re throwing gigantic "As long as"es around, do you have a solution for taking care of the disadvantaged in a privatized education system?
How about this one: The majority of American children would go uneducated if their parents were forced to pay for it without any help from the rest of the federal tax base. That would be the “really, really good reason” that education was socialized in the first place, I believe. Does the Swedish public education system do better than ours because the national government is less involved? I’d believe you’re the Queen of France before I believed that.
Yes, but if and only if they are able to pass standardized tests indicating that they have received a useful education. No way in the world I would accede to paying someone for keeping their kids at home and neglecting their science and history in favor of bible study and creation “science”.
They may not end up being lawyers, doctors, or rocket scientists. But rest assured that all of them will end up being voters. That if nothing else should convince you that education is beneficial to all of society.
Okay, who does get the most benefit of it? The parents get some, society gets some, you get some if those children grow up to be your doctor or lawyer or tax preparer. But unquestionably, the kids themselves get a lot of the benefit—but they only realize that benefit when they get older.
Unless you invent a time machine, or you force five-year-olds to take out student loans to pay for kindergarten, you’ll never get children to pay for their own education that they themselves benefit from. What you can do, however, is make this generation pay for the next generation’s education, and so on.
So, if it makes you feel better, don’t think of your taxes going to pay for other kids’ schooling. Think of them as paying for your own schooling retroactively.
No questioning, just commenting on the unfortunate fact that taxes went up and quality went down.
ETA: although, on reflection, one has nothing to do with the other.
The fact that private schools are better than public schools is just not relevant to the discussion. I think everyone agrees that they are–I know you and I do. But I also think just about everyone agrees that every American needs a fair chance at an education. You can go on and on about how great private schools are, and you’ll be right, but it won’t make a damn bit of difference–what’s at stake is the education of the populace as a whole. If you don’t care to convince me that that can be preserved in a privatized education system, fine by me.
No, they don’t have anything to do with each other directly, although as I said, I do think excluding the middle class from the community does have an effect. There are other factors, which are not relevant here, as well.
Most of the people on here with their argument that EVERYONE should pay taxes for schools etc are just doing so because they are stuck with bad marriages and a handful of children. You people chose to have children so you should pay all the taxes for their schools. I am single and do not have children and do not want children therefore I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR CHILDREN. I am sick of single people with no children being discriminated against. Pay taxes for your own children. People without children SHOULD BE EXEMPT FROM These taxes. Don’t give me your BS arguements just because you have a bunch of brats.
People with NO CHILDREN should NOT have to pay taxes for other peoples children.
I am sick of hearing these people come on here defending the fact that a single person should have to pay property taxes for schools. The arguments in favor all come from people with kids. It also amuses me to see all you parents buying your children cell phones, cars etc. Maybe you should stop spoiling your kids and pay your share of taxes since you are the ones sending them to schools that I have to pay for. You want to have children then pay for them yourselves instead of buying them cars when they are in Jr high and cell phones.
Fair Tax has a point. He shouldn’t have to pay to send other people’s kids to school. But since he benefits from their education, he must pay taxes on every thing each child produces in his life that benefits him. And to keep it fair, Fair Tax should itemise each one.
And while we’re at it, we should convert all roads in the nation to privately-owned toll roads. That way we’ll only pay for the roads we use.
Yeah, instead of paying for all those things they consume you could be contributing more money to the public schools! Also, we should probably do something about these zombies around here. Perhaps we could institute a Zombie Tax, but to make it fair, only the people attacked by zombies should have to pay the tax, and only after they’ve been attacked will we be sure of who should pay…
Of course his food and the things he buys at a store were not transported over roads.
When someone else drives him someplace, does he use roads? Do the buses use the highways?
First, the value fo your home is significantly influenced by how well funded your local school is (or at least how good it is).
Second, for every dollar that we spend in public education, we end up collecting even more in additional tax dollars. i.e. the more educated those kids get, the more they pay in all sorts of taxes which ends up relieving you of taxes that would otherwise be borne by you.
The taxes you pay are not and should not be proportional to the services you receive. Taxes are not a proxy for personal expenses.
Education is not a classic public good (Public good - Wikipedia), however most people agree that it provides more benefits to society than it costs. The argument for universal health care is similar.
I’m sick and tired of the zombies shuffling around my neighborhood with their pants hanging off their asses, their shoes untied and that blank expression on all their faces. I would be willing to pay for some sort of place the zombies can go to each day to get them off the streets. Maybe they could be trained to do something productive while they are there.