Teachers Tax, Part One
FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED MAY 12, 2000
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
'At which citizens may offer testimony ...'
Is it the natural right of an American to set him or herself up in business to make a living? Or is this a "privilege" which must be granted by the state?
The Nevada State Education Association (the teachers union) informs us on page 7 of its new 28-page tax proposal that going into business -- even setting out to make a profit as a private person or partnership -- is a "privilege" for which Nevadans should pay the government a levy starting at 4 percent ... though we all know where tax rates tend to migrate over time.
Nevada voters a couple of decades back enacted a constitutional amendment banning any state "income tax ... levied upon the wages or personal income of natural persons." Presumably the teachers would argue that leaves the field wide open for their proposed "business" income tax. Note, however, that the teachers' proposal specifically defines "businesses" to include "independent contractors, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, business associations," and even "private persons" who file IRS tax forms Schedule C or E ("Profit or Loss from Business"; "Supplemental Income and Loss.")
Hmm.
But let's assume for the moment that no successful constitutional challenge is raised, and this ballot initiative succeeds, providing Nevada's government youth propaganda camps with the fresh cash-flow here promised. That money would be dedicated to increase the cash flow to the government schools -- the union insists the Legislature would be specifically forbidden to shift any current school funds elsewhere.
Clark County residents recently saw what a much smaller dedicated tax could do when it came to funding local libraries. Our new Las Vegas libraries are architectural showpieces, full of vast and impressive aquariums, marble statuary, and professional quality theaters (one of them even had to be partially torn down and re-built when it turned out its theater wasn't as big as the theater being built across town in a newer, wealthier neighborhood.)
Not many books, of course.
Would the new Teacher Tax be the same? Vast sums for teacher and administrative salaries and glorious architectural monuments -- while Nevada's Janes and Johnnies would still sally forth, unable to spell and do sums?
NSEA Executive Director Kenneth Lange says no -- "That's why we built the accountability into this document, where we'll at least have a quarterly report, and with luck even a quarterly discussion."
That's right. "Accountability," as covered in Section 15 of the new Teacher Tax proposal, simply means that every three months the clerk of the county school board "shall cause to be published an accountability report detailing the amount of money received by the district during the preceding quarter" and "expenditures made by the district."
Then, within 14 days, the school board "shall hold a public hearing at which citizens may: a) Offer testimony as to whether money received by the district ... was used in a manner most beneficial to students in the district; and b) Make recommendations as to how the money should be spent in ensuing quarters."
Isn't that nice? In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Missouri vs. Jenkins, in which a single federal judge in 1985 had taken control of the school district in Kansas City, Mo., mandating a local school tax increase and forcing the schools to spend an extra $1.5 billion on state-of-the-art school greenhouses, athletic arenas, radio and TV studios, a planetarium, and computers in every classroom.
The result? As summarized by the Separation of School & State Alliance: "No measurable improvement in academic achievement, a fallen attendance rate, and a dropout rate that remains at 60 percent for high-school students."
On May 3 of this year, the Missouri state Board of Education finally stripped the troubled Kansas City School District of its accreditation. Despite all the billions, it turns out the district "has not met any of 11 state performance standards," The AP reports.
Utter failure. But at least the U.S. Supreme Court came to the rescue of Kansas City taxpayers after a mere decade. Nevada's new Teacher Tax, on the other hand, would never sunset no matter how badly the schools should fail. The union's version of "accountability" contains no provision for an end to the money river in the event of failure by any definition.
"The Legislative process buys you three years," explains NSEA Executive Director Kenneth Lange. "That would probably be a window to decide how to judge what are reasonable standards by which to judge student performance, teacher performance, and so forth."
Standards which the union might consider adopting ... after the new tax is put in place, you understand.
"Accountability?" Once this new Teachers Income Tax opens the floodgates of dedicated school funding, you might as well try to block the Hoover Dam spillways with a spoon.
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His book, "Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998," is available by dialing 1-800-244-2224.
Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com
"The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it." -- John Hay, 1872
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
