This is my comment on the dangers of thinking of Tax cuts simply as tax cuts and not addressing the damage the leaner budgets have posed to important things like education.
Written last winter.
Cutting Dangerously.
As we near Christmas this year and people talk about retail sales, shopper counts, and whether or not opening at midnight on Black Friday is effective our representatives in Salem and other capitals across the country talk about tax cuts and budget cuts. These are lauded as necessary, the tax cuts to shore up a weak economy in which 1 in every 10 people is unemployed, and the budget cuts to keep the state economies solvent and keep states out of bankruptcy or insolvency. The problem no-one is addressing is what long term effects of these cuts, the tax cuts being a reduction in state income and the budget cuts reducing state spending on important programs, in particular education.
Portland, Oregon is a case of devaluing education. Our public schools currently have the shortest school year in the nation meeting the required minimum. Over the past ten years Portland has closed at least two elementary schools, and a high school. Through attrition and layoffs class sizes in elementary schools such as Glencoe elementary in Southeast Portland or Madison high school in Northeast Portland have grown to in the case of Glencoe near thirty elementary students per teacher at Glencoe to between thirty and forty high school students per teacher at Madison. In addition programs such as metal arts, music and art have been marginalized or closed completely at most Portland public schools. Only schools with a strong PTA seem able to hang onto any form of arts.
Meanwhile The state of Oregon has had an increase in the number of students enrolled while staying at the same expenditure per student for the last four years even though inflation continues to increase (ORDE.) Oregon has dropped to 32nd in the nation in per student spending and Salem wants to cut even more (IES). Meanwhile Salem wants to continue to cut due to decreased tax revenue and decreased federal spending. At the same time our leaders in Washington DC are wrangling over extending a middle class tax cut that will equal less than 100 dollars in the average person’s pay per month. This barely even covers gas expenses for the average family. The primary sticking point for the Republicans seems to be upper income tax cuts.
Since 1980 the agenda of anti tax crusaders has been to lower taxes paid by the very wealthy and corporations. The problem with this is every tax cut is basically a form of spending. There is a basic cost of running our country and education our popluace and every time you reduce the governments income you have to make cuts to programs that are designed to educate, protect, and insure the health of the populace. The Capital Gains taxes are the largest single item tax cut dropping from the same as regular income to only fifteen percent since these tax cuts started. For some reason this income has been pulled out as more deserving of preferetial taxation over the income that people make by getting up and working as doctors, nurses, teachers, school bus drivers, baristas, etc.
We as a nation need to decide which is important; the education of our children or paying a few hundred dollars less in taxes for the average person or the special treatment of a class of income that doesn’t have to do with a daily commute or an office, or an end product. As the average person cannot gain from the average tax cut it is time to stop the cutting. Stop tax cuts that benefit a very small minority of the populace, stop cutting programs that benefit a very large majority of the populace.
Oregon Department of Education. Actual Operating vs. Capital expenditures per student Report, 2003-2004. Oregon Department of Education web site. Web. 5th December, 2011.
Oregon Department of Education. Actual Operating vs. Capital expenditures per student Report 2008-2009. Oregon Department of Education web site. Web. 5th December, 2011.
Institute of Educational sciences. Revenues and Expenditures by Public School Districts. School Year 2006-2007 (Fiscal Year 2007) . Web 5th December, 2011
As we near Christmas this year and people talk about retail sales, shopper counts, and whether or not opening at midnight on Black Friday is effective our representatives in Salem and other capitals across the country talk about tax cuts and budget cuts. These are lauded as necessary, the tax cuts to shore up a weak economy in which 1 in every 10 people is unemployed, and the budget cuts to keep the state economies solvent and keep states out of bankruptcy or insolvency. The problem no-one is addressing is what long term effects of these cuts, the tax cuts being a reduction in state income and the budget cuts reducing state spending on important programs, in particular education.
Portland, Oregon is a case of devaluing education. Our public schools currently have the shortest school year in the nation meeting the required minimum. Over the past ten years Portland has closed at least two elementary schools, and a high school. Through attrition and layoffs class sizes in elementary schools such as Glencoe elementary in Southeast Portland or Madison high school in Northeast Portland have grown to in the case of Glencoe near thirty elementary students per teacher at Glencoe to between thirty and forty high school students per teacher at Madison. In addition programs such as metal arts, music and art have been marginalized or closed completely at most Portland public schools. Only schools with a strong PTA seem able to hang onto any form of arts.
Meanwhile The state of Oregon has had an increase in the number of students enrolled while staying at the same expenditure per student for the last four years even though inflation continues to increase (ORDE.) Oregon has dropped to 32nd in the nation in per student spending and Salem wants to cut even more (IES). Meanwhile Salem wants to continue to cut due to decreased tax revenue and decreased federal spending. At the same time our leaders in Washington DC are wrangling over extending a middle class tax cut that will equal less than 100 dollars in the average person’s pay per month. This barely even covers gas expenses for the average family. The primary sticking point for the Republicans seems to be upper income tax cuts.
Since 1980 the agenda of anti tax crusaders has been to lower taxes paid by the very wealthy and corporations. The problem with this is every tax cut is basically a form of spending. There is a basic cost of running our country and education our popluace and every time you reduce the governments income you have to make cuts to programs that are designed to educate, protect, and insure the health of the populace. The Capital Gains taxes are the largest single item tax cut dropping from the same as regular income to only fifteen percent since these tax cuts started. For some reason this income has been pulled out as more deserving of preferetial taxation over the income that people make by getting up and working as doctors, nurses, teachers, school bus drivers, baristas, etc.
We as a nation need to decide which is important; the education of our children or paying a few hundred dollars less in taxes for the average person or the special treatment of a class of income that doesn’t have to do with a daily commute or an office, or an end product. As the average person cannot gain from the average tax cut it is time to stop the cutting. Stop tax cuts that benefit a very small minority of the populace, stop cutting programs that benefit a very large majority of the populace.
Oregon Department of Education. Actual Operating vs. Capital expenditures per student Report, 2003-2004. Oregon Department of Education web site. Web. 5th December, 2011.
Oregon Department of Education. Actual Operating vs. Capital expenditures per student Report 2008-2009. Oregon Department of Education web site. Web. 5th December, 2011.
Institute of Educational sciences. Revenues and Expenditures by Public School Districts. School Year 2006-2007 (Fiscal Year 2007) . Web 5th December, 2011
Revenues and ExpePublic School Districts: School Year 2006-07 (Fiscal Year 2007)
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