Teachers Should Not Pay Taxes

[Ravenseye]

Since we're talking about teachers so much the past couple days...

How bout a tax cut. Bush loves tax cuts right?

How bout all elementary and secondary educators pay no federal taxes. Have the states follow suit....no taxes on teachers.

That way you're giving people a tax cut, you're not raising property taxes to pay for it.

Has that ever been floated before?

[amazona]

1. i've heard it floated before but it's ridiculous

On the other thread a teacher posted that she earns $36K a year. Plus she has time for part-time work on the side to get more.

I earn less than $10K a year. As a self-employed person, I pay double social security taxes already.

Instead of creating proposals that will cause us to fight among ourselves, why not create a fair tax proposal? Like...no one under $30K a year pays taxes or something of that nature.

But don't pick and choose certain jobs and elevate them above the others. It's unfair on the face of it.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[elehhhhna]

3. 36 K for 9 months work ain't bad...

but it's not BIG MONEY either.

[WildClarySage]

4. Depends on where you live.

[ProfessorGAC]

Can You Get My Wife That Job?

She's been a teacher since the late 70's and doesn't make $36k. If she did, we'd have pushed our retirement plans up at least 5 years!
The Professor

[mopinko]

15. she should look around

$36k is low for the chicago area. i have a friend in the burbs that has been teaching since the mid 80's with a masters + and she makes in the high 80's.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. That's The Problem, Not An Opportunity

Small town in southern Will County, mostly retail and bedroom community has a tax base that can pay under $30k for a 25+ year experienced teacher, but a 'burb teacher can make 2.7x that! Why the disparity?

Why does a funding formula create such differentials? Why would a good teacher have to leave the school in her own home town to find more money? (We're not talking about small differences here.)

Why would you be so willing to relegate the kids in her school district to less experienced or less competent teachers? Do you find kids in small towns less worthy? Are these small town kids worth less than the kids your friend teaches? I assume you would say NO!

Simple question: Why would a teacher in the 'burbs be worth 270% more than an equivalently educated and somewhat more experienced special ed teacher in a small city, 40 or 50 miles away? The formula is the problem, and my wife "looking around" doesn't solve the problem and doesn't help the kids.

And, she's not looking around anyway. We don't need the money, and she works 3 blocks from home.

And, finally, you're wrong about $36k being particularly low for the Chicago market. Lots of small school districts find themselves in the exact same situation! LOTS! My wife gets the IL NEA newsletter every month. Each semester there are statewide salary surveys. It's not as unusually low as you think.

Sorry for the tone. This is a hot button for me. My wife has kids still call her, when they had her in 4th grade 15 years ago! She's got SKILLS! She is not compensated accordingly!

The Professor

[mopinko]

24. but, but, dawn clark netsch is so ugly

just because she ran on a platform of tossing out the current absolutely insane school funding in this state, doesn't mean you should go voting for an ugly woman. probably the maddest i have ever been at people in general was hearing from the exit polls that that was why people did not vote for dawn. sometimes i think the voters get what they deserve.

the willingness of women to put what's right above what pays is what has kept this country from sinking into an irreparable cesspool, imho. now if we can only elect a few of them.
your tone is perfectly appropriate. special ed, yet!!! geez. that is just crazed.
i thought chicago was one of the worst. but i know the teachers at my kid's school do better than that. a friend told me that a nearby school that had 3 openings got something like 500 applications.

[msongs]

11. yeah, too bad there are no teachers who only "work" 9 months....

cuz at my school the teachers are doing working relating to their jobs many hours and days when they are supposedly on vacation.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[havocmom]

12. And paying off student loans at that rate?

Other professions pay much better and many require much less effort.

Oh, and many teachers spend that off time wither working another job or getting the additional education they need to keep their certificate current.

[havocmom]

5. Re that double SS tax statement: You failed to admit that you also get to

deduct half of 'double social security taxes' from your income on your 1040.

[elehhhhna]

7. true but big whoop. ask him about health insurance shopping.

self-employment is no dreamboat ride, either.

[havocmom]

9. Gee, thanks for letting me know about it

And I thought I was having such a good time being self employed. ;)

[elehhhhna]

16. sorry.

i was just smartin off.

[fat free goodness]

13. deduct from income is not significant.

True, he gets to deduct the double whammy for SS from his reported income. But at 10 K total income, his income tax was nothing anyway. Another deduction doesn't really help much.

[havocmom]

23. Still amounts to the same amount extra paid into SS so I fail to see the

reason for whining. Whining about taxes just vexes me. If we expect services from the government, why bitch about paying for the? If one really resents paying that extra bit of SS tax, they can go get employed by someone else and avoid it.

[fat free goodness]

28. I don't think that is correct.

If I pay thousands "extra" in SS and get to claim that as a reduction in my income, it does not reduce my income taxes by that amount, it reduces it by the tax rate on that amount.
Without doing "real" numbers, suppose I pay an extra $2100 dollars in SS tax because I am self employed and was paid about 35k. My income tax obligation depends on many factors, but say I pay 25% in income tax. I get to deduct the $2000 from my income, so my income tax goes down by only 25% of the $2000, or $500.

(I think. But someone else does my taxes because I am bad at it, and hate it worse than going to the dentist.) :)

[Clark2008]

10. I agree.

Most working journalists don't earn more than $20,000-$25,000 (which is why the good ones either leave the profession or start turning into the Hydra-opinion-monster in order to make the big bucks).

If we're going to exempt people on taxes, it should purely be income-based, not profession-based.

[lukasahero]

18. Clark suggested < $50k with kids = no taxes

but no one seemed to want to listen to him...

[megatherium]

21. Wasn't it Richard Nixon who proposed a negative income tax

for persons with low income?

[expatriot]

2. What's next? No taxes for healthcare professionals. farmers, firefighters?

No. Cutting tax revenue is not the answer. Your scheme sounds like another "nice" way of starving government.

[havocmom]

6. Do we really want America's kids to be taught by a bunch of rich frat brat

types in need of tax shelters? That is what would happen.

[elehhhhna]

8. I think Jenna made that proposal!

[havocmom]

20. Well, if we expempted teachers from taxes, all her Bud swilling buds will

be instructed, by their accountants, to teach. That would be a wonderful thing... NOT!

[mopinko]

14. "you're not raising property taxes to pay for it."

no, you will just have to raise taxes on the rest of us to make up for the absence of the teachers taxes. sorry no free lunch.

[shance]

17. I agree. I think income based tax relief should be mandatory.

n/t

[megatherium]

22. college professors shouldn't pay taxes either

except for business profs (who earn quite a bit more than their colleagues in the English department).

Of course, I'm a college prof, so maybe I'm biased here.

[lukasahero]

25. Families making less than 50k should not pay any taxes

And for the record, I do not have children and I do make over 50k.

It's becoming hysterical to watch DU turn into the party of the "me me me's" when that's supposed to be the republican's job. Is there anyone here who thinks that a teacher making less than $50k shouldn't have a tax break - not because they are a teacher but because they are making less than is necessary to live well in many communities in this country? When did it go out of fashion for the Democratic party to care about the people who might actually benefit from some kind of economic support?

[tcoursen]

26. No way

Teachers should pay taxes, just like everybody else.

[me b zola]

27. How about

We pay them what they are worth, treat them with respect, and in return ask them to pay their taxes, like everyother American, to pay for the infrastructure of the nation. You know, little things like streets, highways, police, firefighters,and so on.