The reverse class resentment on student debt/free college is disturbing.

[DanTex]

74. The regressive argument is truly specious. People have pointed it out, and I haven't seen a response

Which is what makes me all the more convinced that this is just the usual centrists who also say that Social Security is regressive in order to cut it.

Why is it progressive?
1) Because if you include the revenue as well as the benefit, then it's obviously progressive. And with other programs like Social Security, the entire transfer is considered, not just the benefit half or the revenue half. Why the double standard here? I mean, even if this were funded by a flat tax (which it's not), it would still be progressive, in that it would transfer wealth from higher incomes to lower incomes. When it's funded by something like a wealth tax, or a financial transaction tax, or a progressive income tax (which is what's proposed), it's even more progressive.

2) Because if you measure by wealth instead of income, then it's obviously very progressive. Debt forgiveness is a one-time transfer, not a recurring thing. In effect, it's a wealth transfer and not an income transfer, and as a wealth transfer it's highly progressive. And even if you disagree, the very fact that it's the lowest quintile of wealth that has by far the most college debt shows how absurd it is to call them the "richest part of the country". Since when is the "richest part of the country" the part that has the lowest wealth?

3) Because when you measure debt burden relative to income instead of in absolute terms, then again it's progressive and it's the lowest quintile most heavily burdened. This is the way it's done with most (all?) other policy analyses. Like if I cut taxes by 10% for people under 100K and 5% for people over 100K, that would be considered progressive. That's because, relative to income, the lower income people benefit the most. In absolute dollar terms, of course, the highest income people benefit the most, because 5% of a million dollars is a lot more than 10% of 50K.

The only response I've heard is that some guy at a think tank thinks it's regressive. And that's because the think tank guy makes those three peculiar accounting choices in order to come up with the conclusion that it's regressive. It's obviously not.