The Greater Generation

 I have a memory of seeing the bill for taxes in the family home. This bill was only for the local junior college, which no one in the family attended (I did, later, for a year, before leaving home for university). I was fairly ignorant of taxation at the time, so mentioned it to my father, that he was paying for something no one in the family was using.

He said he did so because the school supported the community by educating people in my hometown (and from around the area). He pointed out he was paying school taxes, and would be after my brother and I no longer attended them, as he had paid taxes for them before he had children in them.

In his lifetime he paid taxes for far more years without family members in those schools, than for the years we were in them.

Some people today don’t consider the social benefit of such things:

To garner public support for vouchers, Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, said advocates need to frame the program as giving taxpayers who opt out of the public school system their dollars back. Voucher opponents have often voiced concerns that an education savings account program would siphon away public school funds. 

“I had a superintendent yesterday tell me, ‘How can you support public dollars going into private schools?’ And I said, ‘I just don't agree with the premise of your question because it is parents’ dollars to begin with,’” Troxclair said.

I would say I pay an average amount in school taxes, and $8000 is more than twice what I pay annually. The article mentions some support for $10,000 per voucher to more closely match the cost of private school. (This argument is meant to encourage private schools opening in rural areas that won’t benefit from vouchers. It overlooks the fact that such schools will pop up with no accreditation and lower standards than public schools. But, hey, choice, right?). So the Senate bill will give the parents their money, AND my money, and someone else’s money. 💰 

It’s legalized robbery. Especially since I want my school tax dollars going to public schools.

Trump is symptom; not the disease. This kind of selfishness and denial of the community was heralded by Margaret Thatcher when Trump was still chasing tail in NYC. It’s just metastasized since then.