<p>I think line 8 has to go. Sorry.</p>
<p>Perhaps a % of Line 8 can be deducted? Close to 100% would be nice :)</p>
<p>Posts #12, #18, and #22 explain why the tax code is so complicated. :)</p>
<p>I suggest 150% for higher ed and 200% for grad school, 100% for private ed. Part time included. We should be ENCOURAGING higher ed, not discouraging it.</p>
<p>Private ed=tutors, private and boarding school
higher ed=Bachelors and associates, courses taken at a college
grad school=Masters, PhD, law school, med school and business school, all degrees, courses taken at the aforementioned schools
Watch the grad school TAs get massive 4k tax return checks at the end of the year.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>How about expanding Americorps to cover college expenses? The government agrees to pay your tuition for x number of years if you agree to serve (in the career field you studied for) in an underpriviledged area for the same number of years, after you graduate.</p>
<p>College expenses, like ALL OF THEM? Well that’s something to consider, I guess, but only if it covers ALL college expenses, including room and board, plus a living stipend for about $350 a month, adjusted for cost of living.</p>
<p>Well, let’s support, children, education, health care, real estate, businesses, charities, retirement, investments, state and local governments, and religious organizations.</p>
<p>Oh! We already do. :)</p>
<p>A highly educated populace adds value to society as a whole. Thus, society should bear some of the financial burden for people to become highly educated.</p>
<p>Totally agree with your arguement, if all colleges cost the same. If you’re willing to have the Government pay for your education, are you willing to go where they say? You can still chose your degree, Uncle Sam says where you get it from…</p>
<p>Remember standard US policy on buying something. Lowest bidder usually wins the contract, so expect a CC.</p>
<p>Government has no say where you get your degree. The government’s not paying for you to go to college, the government is paying for the VALUE ADDED to society when you go get a BA, or MA or JD or MBA. And since the value added in a JD or MD is higher, the government pays a higher price for that value added. Also the value added of a Harvard JD vs. a 4th tier law school JD is much higher, so it’s in the government’s best interest for people to try to go to top schools.</p>
<p>Many, if not most people, in this society believe that what I mentioned in post #27 has tremendous value to society.</p>
<p>You (futurenyustudent) want to draw the line at what benefits you.
That’s ok.That’s where most people draw the line. </p>
<p>That’s why we have so many lines. ;)</p>
<p>What do they call the top graduate of Johns Hopkins Mediacal School and the bottom graduate of Joe Bob’s Medical School? </p>
<p>Doctor</p>
<p>But will a bottom graduate of Joe Bob’s Med school find a cure to cancer? Probably not. Will a top graduate of JHU med school find a cure to cancer? Much more probable than someone from Joe Bob’s.</p>
<p>Yeah, but they both can fill out a prescription for a sick kid in Harlem. </p>
<p>Perhaps we can agree that if the Government pays more for the college you choose, you agree to serve more time for the government when you get your degree. And if you find the cure for cancer, I hope your not working for the US Governement at the time. Imagine all the royalty checks you’ll lose out on. :)</p>
<p>Have you considered that the private sector adds value too? Someone with a better education adds more value to a company; the company can and does then add more value to the industry; then the industry then adds more value to society as a whole. Either way, society benefits.</p>
<p>Again, education doesn’t add value to THE GOVERNMENT, it adds value to SOCIETY, directly or indirectly.</p>
<p>I don’t think a flat tax is fair, therefore I can’t answer because I don’t agree with the premise of the OP.</p>
<p>===
For a college class, I once wrote a tax bill. And had to get votes for it in the Simulated Congress. The biggest thing I took away from the process was: It Ain’t As Easy As It Looks. As someone representing a moderate Democratic district, I had to bash out the outlines of a tax bill with a true-believing Republican representing a Nebraska district. We got it done, but man…that was the second hardest thing I did in that class all term.</p>
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<p>You’re confusing correlation with causality. What is the independent variable involved in “curing cancer”? I would argue that it is not “JHU education,” but some combination of brains, tenacity, money, and – for lack of a better word – luck. These attributes would tend to make someone more likely to get into the sort of prestigious schools that would help that person get into a more prestigious medical school, and would help make someone a better cancer researcher. I would argue that it’s fairly likely that the JHU education is a dependent variable, not an independent one. Of course, there is some marginal benefit to earning your MD at JHU, I suppose, but I personally doubt that there is all that much difference between accredited US medical school educations.</p>
<p>If all it took to make someone brilliant and successful was to matriculate at a “top” university or professional school, I would advocate closing 4,000 colleges and just expanding the top 20 or so. Then, everyone would be brilliant.</p>