I don't have kids and could use the extra income, can I opt out of public school funding?

[rinsd]

[cobalt1999]

1. That's the same attitude all the retirees have after moving to Florida.

"My kids are grown, why should I pay more taxes for schools"

[Gormy Cuss]

14. The local school district here have figured out that the seniors will vote for new funding

as long as they are offered an exemption from paying the new tax. Last time they pulled that trick the school district officials were feigning shock when most of the seniors filed for the exemption and the revenues fell far short of projections.

[DrDan]

15. bs - not all of them . . .

There are a lot - but not "all the retirees" . . .

Let's not get carried away . . .

[cobalt1999]

18. Sorry.

I do try to avoid words like ALL, NEVER, NONE, EVERY.

How about "a majority of them".

[DrDan]

39. there certainly are enough down here that feel that way

of course, they also are extremely protective of the value of their homes. And they just seem to ignore how much a quality school can add to that.

Very short sighted.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Sure. Just as long as you never rely on anyone younger than

you for anything in your old age. Doctor, pharmacist, dentist. You get the drift.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. I don't have kids either, but I'd like to opt out of paying taxes that go to defense.

Would that not be wonderful?

[Heidi]

4. Even if you wanted to, I don't think anyone should be able to opt out of funding public education.

(nt)

[1corona4u]

5. And, why do those with kids, get the deduction

and those who are single, don't? We pay just as much tax as they do, actually more.

[sandnsea]

6. That's why Obama mandates kids' health insurance

Hillary would mandate people go to college as well, whether they want the tens of thousands of dollars of debt or not.

[juajen]

29. Ridiculous! Link please.

Mandatory college w/resultant student loans, eh? Funny. You're desperate.

[sandnsea]

31. Comparing health care to education

That's the point of the OP. Children are mandated to go to school, and Obama would mandate kids have health care. We don't mandate anybody go to college, even though everybody would be better off if they did. That's the point.

I'm sure you want to apologize for being rude now, right?

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Ron Paul would answer yes.

[Reader Rabbit]

8. If you are a citizen of the United States, you have kids in school.

It's where that whole "United" thing comes from, you know?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

9. No, but how would you like to be "mandated" to buy private school tuition?

That's a more apt analogy to the one you're trying to make.

[rinsd]

13. Public school is free?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

17. No, it's provided by tax dollars.

For your analogy to work, the proposed health care plan should be government run socialized medicine. No health plan, including Kucinich's, calls for that.

You are comparing apples to oranges with this argument.

[rinsd]

22. The point is shared responsisiblity for the betterment of society

Obama believes allowing people who can afford to contribute to opt out.

Single payer is the way to go.

Hillary's is the only plan that even has the means to get us there though Kucinich had the best plan.

Obama has said flatly he is not interested in even pursuing single payer contrary to his earlier advocacy of it.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

26. Clinton's plan is NOT single payer. It is a patchwork of subsidies and private insurance

Similar to Obama's. I don't care for either plan but he is smart not to include a mandate because he understands the reality that people WILL opt out regardless. This is what is happening in MA, where some people are paying the fine rather than purchasing the insurance because the fine is cheaper. Plus it's political suicide in the general election. It will be made to look like that scary "socialized medicine". "The Democrats want to force Hillarycare on you!!" Many voters won't understand the specifics of the plan and will fall for that. If you don't believe me talk to some low-information voters and ask what they think of mandated health insurance. We are handing the GOP a club to beat us with and it's already too late for Clinton to change it. That "mandate" meme is already out there.

Furthermore, Clinton's mandated plan has no means to get us anywhere. Mandating the purchase of private insurance will only increase the size and power of the insurance companies, not lead to single payer. Auto insurance has been mandated for years. Has that led to single payer universal auto insurance?

[bobbolink]

10. It's your country, you can watch it go to hell with your help, or not.

Geeeez, did I just stumble onto Wingnut Underground?

[rinsd]

11. Just making a point about opting out of responsibility.

[bobbolink]

21. I find it unbelievably sad that Dems should even have to be discussing this!

The Dem party *I* knew was very clear on this1

What have we become?

[donheld]

12. No you may not, nor shoull you even want to

Public education benefits everyone.

[Nashyra]

16. No and u don't want to

unless you want to pay for your own fire, police, etc. All the services that we receive as members of a community are generally folks who were educated by public education. I agree no tax payer should have to pay taxes for federal or state money to go to vouchers.

[PassingFair]

19. Public education is a CORNERSTONE of our democracy.

I am AGHAST that anyone would want to "opt out".

"I have indeed two great measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength: 1. That of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom. 2. To divide every county into hundreds, of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central school in it." --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1810. ME 12:393

"Of all the views of this law , none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe as they are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIV, 1782. ME 2:206

"Education not being a branch of municipal government, but, like the other arts and sciences, an accident only, I did not place it with election as a fundamental member in the structure of government." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816. ME 15:45

"Education is here placed among the articles of public care, not that it would be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal; but a public institution can alone supply those sciences which, though rarely called for, are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the country, and some of them to its preservation." --Thomas Jefferson: 6th Annual Message, 1806. ME 3:423

[winter999]

27. In my County/State its the property owners who pay

for education (say so right on the tax form). So I can opt out just by selling the house and renting. I'll probably get heat for this, but shouldn't the people who use the resource pay for that resource? A child tax? Would sure be an incentive for population control. Plus the income for schooling would be in direct proportion to the student population.

That being said, I always vote for education bonds and always endorse putting more money into the education system. I'm convinced that the education level per capita of a community is in direct relation to the standard of living. The better educated you are, the better off you are and the more opportunities you have.

[DiverDave]

30. oops, my bad...carry on.

[PassingFair]

37. Millage has been an acceptable way to pay for public education in many

...areas for many years. If EVERYBODY decides to rent to "opt out" of paying
for public education, then revenue would have to be raised elsewhere, obviously.

Like fire, libraries and police protection, public education is and considered
part of the PUBLIC WELFARE.

Population growth or stagnation not withstanding, humanity is expected to continue
to reproduce, and we all have a stake in our collective future.

[never_get_over_it]

20. Sure go ahead

BUT remember those kids you don't want to educate will be the ones taking care of your sorry butt in the nursing home....

and I used this EXACT quote to a real estate agent who was giving me a ration of shit about why he shouldn't pay school taxes - hmmm it actually made him stop and think....

[Skidmore]

23. Perhaps you would like to return your education for a refund.

We all could use extra income, but robbing the children of the nation of educations and futures is not the way to do it. Schools are funded through property taxes in most places. If you do not own your home or a business, chances are you are not supporting public education in your area beyond the dollars from that the feds put in. Our area overwhelmingly voted for a school tax recently and our property taxes went up. We could use the extra income too, but we voted to support it because it benefits us all.

[Occam Bandage]

24. Since you're obviously drawing a parallel to Obama's health care system,

I'm going to say now that I believe that as long as you can't opt out of risk, you shouldn't be able to opt out of the risk pool. That said, I have absolutely no idea how Clinton's plan can be realistically enforced, especially for the self-employed, unemployed, and with small businesses.

We have single-payer education (this is actually a complete lie, but for the purposes of this discussion we do), and so enforcement is easy; you pay taxes and that's it. I would be perfectly happy with mandatory payment to a single-payer healthcare scheme. Clinton's mandates are a whole different animal.

If you could demonstrate how you could enforce the mandate universally, fairly, and cheaply, I would have less of a problem with it.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

35. Thank you. If we're going to take on the HUGE political risk of mandates

They might as well be mandating real single payer coverage. Start by extending Medicare to everyone, like Kucinich wants to do. As it is, Clinton is proposing something that will be spun into "socialized medicine" even though it's not but low information voters won't know the difference. It's the worst of both worlds. :(

[sailor65]

25. Unfortunately,

you have to continue to pay for crappy public schools just like you pay for crappy government.

[alcibiades_mystery]

28. To quote Jerry Seinfeld, "We're trying to have a society here..."

:eyes:

[Skittles]

32. I have no kids and I say you are being ridiculous

you don't think you benefit from kids being educated?

[no name no slogan]

33. Bovine U!

It's not just a bunch of tripe

[rucky]

34. Good public schools is good for property values.

and home equity is most folks' number-one investment.

[catnhatnh]

36. While I agree with the majority of posters in the poll I have to ask...

why this is seen as MORE of a "societal" responsibility than healthcare? Let's get down to cases-in educating all the children we are paying to educate (and in my simile "treat) even those who are too stupid or recalcitrant to benefit (terminal or non-productive) as well as a percentage smart enough that they don't need it or would educate themselves (the healthy).And that's what I don't get-one is a given, and the other socialism......

[Jed Dilligan]

38. It's not "a given" for the GOP, it's just already done

But they are working hard to undermine and destroy public education in America. It's easier for them to block national health than it is to dismantle existing entitlements.

[ShadesOfGrey]

41. IMO... Both education and healthcare should be a right!

[PassingFair]

42. What are you, some kind of Democrat or something?

Are there no prisons?
Are there no workhouses?

I :puke: at some of the arguments here!

"If they had rather die, they had better do it, and there by decrease
the surplus population!"

I can't believe I'm even HAVING this
conversation on DU.

[ShadesOfGrey]

40. Hell no! It's not about ...

what's best for you. It's about what's best for America.