Large Utah families may be asked to kick in more for education

[alp227]

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

A state lawmaker says there’s a way to find out if Utah citizens are serious about pumping millions more into education: put it to a vote.

"I want the citizens of Utah to put up or be quiet when it comes to funding education," said Rep. Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton, co-chair of the Education Interim Committee.

The committee on Wednesday reviewed proposed legislation that would raise $400 million for schools by ending the personal exemption on income tax. That exemption favors large families, and ending it would hit them the hardest.

A family of four would pay about $400 more in state taxes each year, said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Salt Lake City.

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57006095-90/education-jones-utah-schools.html.csp

[Blue_Tires]

1. So if they go down this route

can some pseudo-libertarian nut with no kids successfully argue that he shouldn't owe anything??

[JCMach1]

7. yeah, it's a very slippery slope-- state has a collective interest in education

[avebury]

8. Why shouldn't large families pay more for pubic education?

The number of children a family has is a personal choice and larger families consume more educational resource dollars then smaller families. Also consider families with children who do not own real estate and thus do not pay real estate taxes, part of which go to fund education.

As someone who does not have human children my issues over the educational system is on how the money is spent. I live in Oklahoma, a state that has way too many school districts and, as a result, spends way too much money on administrative costs versus what is spent in the classroom. The new issue in Oklahoma now is safe rooms for kids in the schools and there is a push to come up with some type of funding to take care of it. One of the cities that is hot to trot on this issue is Moore which lost 2 schools and some children in a tornado this year. Frankly, I have no desire for my tax dollars to go to Moore for safe rooms for children and I will tell you why. A while back, the people of Moore voted on a bond issue so that they would have the the biggest and best stadium in Oklahoma. The bond issue also included adding some classrooms to various schools (hmmmm - wouldn't that have been a good time to factor in safe rooms?).

Now I have only lived in Oklahoma for 17 years but even I know that Moore is a tornado magnet. In Oklahoma football is king and people just are not rationale about it. The people of Moore exhibited a serious lack of priority and judgment in focusing on football over the safety of their children. If Moore now wants safe rooms for their children they need to come of with a solution within their own city.

http://newsok.com/moore-school-district-asks-voters-to-approve-34-million-bond-issue/article/3535020

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022877128

[dimbear]

2. When that bill passes, let's all meet for a snowball fight in hell.

Anyway, good on her for a gesture in the right direction.

[Rebellious Republican]

3. I'm ready...

[Rebellious Republican]

4. Take them to task.

[jamzrockz]

5. So

What number makes a family large? and would they be giving any discounts for small families or some encouragement for fighting overpopulation?

[thelordofhell]

6. A family of four in Utah is small

[pitbullgirl1965]

9. Good!

They should. Overpopulation is a huge threat to all of us. There should also be tax breaks for those who have small families.

[Leith]

10. I Can't Agree

I don't have kids at all, but that does not mean that I don't have a responsibility to help educate the next generation. It doesn't matter how many or few kids a family has - all children deserve a quality education.

This is a small step towards removing public tax monies from public education. No.

[CreekDog]

11. Utah should fix its regressive income tax

that would raise funding and not harm those with limited incomes, whether they have many children, few or none.

[marshall]

12. A family of four is considered large?

That's two children, which the last I heard was the standard ideal.

[Myrina]

13. Guess that means the Duggars aren't moving there anytime soon ...