Class Reaction (4.7.09) Taxes

I was glad that Dr. Pope explained a little on school finance at the beginning of class last week. As far as Mark Sanford not using the $700 million stimulus on schools, I completely agree with his choice from what I understand. The stimulus money is not free and will have to be paid back. The government will eventually run out of money if they keep giving it out like they have been recently, and problems will not be solved by government spending. With the economy the way it is now, of course there is going to be less money coming in for schools. There are many more “penny pinchers” without jobs or even with jobs that lowered pay and hours than there were the year before. South Carolina schools are hurting since they receive most of their money from sales tax. With sales down, there is less money coming in through sales tax. Many people and educators are upset because Mark Sanford has informed the schools to plan on not receiving any of the stimulus money. He would like to use the stimulus money to pay off South Carolina debt. By using the stimulus money to pay off South Carolina debt, it is more likely to help more jobs open up. Companies will look to hire, and those that lost their jobs could therefore find new ones which would create more tax revenue. People would be less likely to be “penny pinchers” and the schools would receive more money from taxes than is coming in now. If we can learn to live with the downfall for a short time, we can potentially come out better. However, if the money goes into the school system, we will be creating more debt for future generations. Why spend money that we don’t have? School systems will not create revenue that will go back into the state like creating new jobs will.