Nick Clegg backs tax on university graduates

[Francesca9]

Source: Telegraph (UK)

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the Deputy Prime Minister says graduates should face a new levy on their wages that will make the best paid contribute the most.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/7957345/Nick-Clegg-backs-tax-on-university-graduates.html

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Here is a great idea that we could adopt, the more University credits a person has the higher their taxes should be.

[dencol]

1. I disagree.

Higher education isn't free here, as it is in many other places. I'm looking at $100k in loans, so why should I get slammed with additional taxes simply for being educated? I could understand if I had a free education, but this I disagree with! Tax based just on income!

[Francesca9]

3. You could get a credit for what you paid

Someone has to pay the taxes. The most educated should pay back.

[mrfrapp]

18. Terrible idea

I have a Masters Degree in Computer Science (which I paid for myself) and yet I'm happy in my dead end, bottom of the rung job in the Civil Service. Why should I pay more taxes?

[Francesca9]

22. Because the state paid for your Masters

What you paid you get as a tax credit.

[mrfrapp]

25. Obnoxious politics.

You missed the point where I say I'm in a low paying job. Do you expect me to look for higher value work in order to pay these additional taxes?

[Jim Sagle]

2. I hope that was sarcasm.

But it IS a great idea if you want to dumb down the populace.

[Francesca9]

4. What is wrong with paying back?

Those without an education should be not taxed for life.

[Jim Sagle]

5. The concept of "public" eludes you. Pity, that.

[Francesca9]

6. About half of us don't get a public education

About half of us don't get any education.

If you got an education you should pay back.

[Jim Sagle]

7. You didn't even go to grade skool? Must suck to be you.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Ignores the issue of foreign students

who wouldn't necessarily be here afterwards to pay such taxes. That however could be overcome by at least doubling their fees.

The article, which is just a telegraph interview , actually says he endorses such a policy - not that its his own.

[ixion]

9. a tax on knowledge?

I wouldn't support any such thing. Universities and their over-paid administrators are bilking college students out of tens-of-thousands of dollars, and then you want to slap a tax on them for trying to educate themselves? I hardly see the value added by doing something like that.

Tax things that make money. Education is potential energy, not profit.

[Francesca9]

15. Self education would of course, be free

If it costs the government money for an education, THEN for life you would owe a tax on every course.

[melm00se]

10. college grads

on the whole make more money over their working lifetimes so they do, in fact, pay more in taxes than those without college degrees so in essence there is a "tax" on their education.

remember the quote:

the power to tax is the power to destroy

[Suji to Seoul]

11. Let me tell you how it will be,

There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

(If you drive a car ), I’ll tax the street,
(If you try to sit ), I’ll tax your seat,
(If you get too cold ), I’ll tax the heat,
(If you take a walk ), I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman.

‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Don’t ask me what I want it for
(Taxman! Mister Wilson!)
If you don’t want to pay some more
(Taxman! Mister Heath!),
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

Now my advice for those who die, (Taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes, (Taxman!)
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
And you’re working for no-one but me,
(Taxman).

[pampango]

12. If our university education were free that would make sense. It would take a huge change in our

higher education system to make such a tax a good idea (though our current system which leaves most graduates with huge loans to repay is hardly one I defend as an alternative).

[Francesca9]

16. Anything that you paid for college would be deductible

Many pay very little for college today, this tax would ensure a free education for all.

[mike r]

13. Don't forget high school graduates

Start early.
:sarcasm:

[Hopeless Romantic]

14. Given that graduates, on average, earn more than non graduates,

doesn't the existing tax system tax them more already?

I mean, if they earn more, they pay more don't they?

[Francesca9]

17. What you earn is irrelevant

It is about what your education cost the state. It is about ensuring a free education for the young.

If you use it for more income, fine, there is a tax on that as well.

[Hopeless Romantic]

20. How can the amount you earn ever be irrelevant to taxation?

By that logic you would have the primary school teacher paying the same "graduate tax" as the corporate lawyer.

And how is an education considered "free" if you're going to have to pay for it for the rest of your life?


Also, even non-graduates (some of them higher earners) are going to benefit from the education of graduates. The plumber, who may earn £50,000 a year in the UK or more, is not a university graduate, but his children will be educated by graduates, and his health will be looked after by graduates and so on. So why should he not contribute towards the education of those graduates?

[Xithras]

19. In California, that's the theory of the entire state-funded higher ed system.

People, from time to time, have griped about the fact that the state underwrites so much of the CC, UC, and CSU budgets, calling it a "waste" of taxpayer dollars.

It has been shown, many times, that the increase in wages (and taxation) enjoyed by California college grads leads to increased state taxes that FAR exceed the original per-student pay-in. The state pays a little, and gets a lot back on its investment.

[Francesca9]

24. That was once true

California once had an above average educational system. It is no longer true. Someone has to pay.

[Xithras]

21. Encouraging stupidity through tax policy. Great.

Any financial penalty on higher education will simply act as a disincentive toward the pursuit of that education. You're talking about a penalty on education.

The teabaggers, who are always railing on about those "evil liberal professors", should love the idea. Enjoy the company.

[Francesca9]

23. Education fuels our economy

Someone has to fund education. We can charge the students and force them to borrow.

We can bill them later.

Which is better?

Anyway, right now jobs are leaving because student have to pay too much.

[Nihil]

26. Nick Clegg (and the rest of the supporters of this plan) can f*ck off.

I paid every penny for my degrees - BA & BSc(Hons) - and *that* was out
of my post-tax earnings. If he (or anyone else) thinks that I'm now
going to pay the state for my own hard work he can fuck right off.

I pay my taxes for the sake of the education of the public (amongst other
uses) and believe that this is one of the most crucial uses of public
money that you can have (in sharp contrast to most administrative, political
and military uses).

I'm now paying (again out of *my* post-tax income) to help my son go through
university - an experience that is costing *him* shitloads of money through
loans that he will have to pay off when he ends up getting a job.

The current tax scheme will already take more money from the higher earners
without penalising the lower earners. This half-arsed "plan" would tax even
the lower earners (e.g., graduate in a low paid job) at the same rate as the
higher earners (e.g., graduate in a city bank).

Anyone who supports this is either not thinking it through or is deliberately
working to keep the population dumber whilst enlarging the gap between the
top few "privileged" people and the masses.

For those in the first case, please consider the irrationality of the proposal.
For those in the second case, you can all go screw yourselves.

:grr: