Prop 30 needs to pass

Steven Jung

     Prop 30 will be appearing on the ballot this November. It adds a small tax to anyone that makes $250,000 or more a year.

     The California school system has over $20 million in the last four years. If prop 30 does not pass, the schools will lose another large sum of money. The prop affects Cal State Universities, not just the public schools.

     If the prop does not pass then cal states will increase their fees. We are already in a recession; increasing schools fees is the last thing students need.

     California is in trouble already, because it has the rank of 47th in the nation for per-student-funding.

     The tax will be small compared to the salary of the people it is taxing. If a person makes $250k to $300k, then that person is taxed only 10.3 percent. People who make $300k to $500k pay 11.3 percent, $500k to $1 million pay 12.3 percent, and those that make more than $1 million will pay 13.3 percent.

     Even with the tax people are still not paying that much since 13.3 percent of a million is less than $140k. The rich really do not need that money when they still have over $800,000.

     Even if the rich do not like the prop; it is only in effect for four years. The prop is supported by the California Democratic Party, California Teachers Association, and many others.

     If the teachers support the prop; then so should the students. The teachers are the ones teaching the kids in the schools.

     Another backlash that will happen if the prop does not pass is there will be a $250 million budget cut. In order to counter this the CSUs will be increasing fees by $150 a semester, which is a 5 percent increase from their current price.

     The outcome of this prop is also said to determine whether or not 20,000 additional students will be admitted this next fall. If it fails that means CSUs will accept even less students each semester and they are already impacted as it is.

     It could also be whether or not 1,500 teachers lose their jobs due to lack of funding. The schools might lose $250 million; the system has already had a $1 billion lose in the last 18 months, and yet the rich want them to cut their budget again just so they do not have to pay a little extra in taxes.

     If the fees increase the school system is only doing this to allow students to attend the schools, but students already pay enough money for books and tuition and other fees for labs and mandatory activities for their classes.

     The most affective reason people should support prop 30 is the fact that if it does pass, the CSUs are going to reduce the tuition fees. That means students pay less, what other reason should students need to support prop 30?

     The board of trustees who raised the fees made have a plan to decrease the fees by $249 per semester. If the prop passes the CSUs will also receive a $125 million for next years budget. If it does not pass however, when they initiate the budget cuts the school swill have no money to set aside for financial aid.

     The prop 30 voting is simple. Vote yes on this upcoming election because otherwise it will be even harder for students to get into CSUs. It is also a small tax on the rich and even that is putting it lightly considering in order to be taxed the person has to make over $250k. Do the rich really need that 25k?

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