Taxing

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1593003]

Inspired by a comment of lionsphil over at this discussion of the graduate tax.

Comments

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

I think the idea of paying back _more than_ the value of your fees via graduate tax because you end up in a job that earns more strikes me as unfair.

In any case, once the value of the fees is paid off (as per the current student loans system), income is still going to get hit with large amounts of income tax anyway.

If the tax stopped at the value of the fees, that would be fairer IMO.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

But *does* the current system only pay off the value of the fees, or does it add on a whacking great chunk of interest too?

[andrewducker]

Interest is charged at RPI.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Really - not CPI?

[andrewducker]

Nop, definitely RPI.

(Sorry for the late response, I managed to miss this in my inbox).

[nmg.livejournal.com]

No, you're not 'paying back more than the value of your fees' under a graduate tax. You're contributing in a manner that reflects the financial benefit that you personally have gained by virtue of your (presumably state-funded) higher education.

If anything, it's an attempt to create a) a progressive tax that b) recognises the contribution that the state has made (through the education system) to the earning ability of graduates.

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

My initial response below:

http://andrewducker.livejournal.com/2111045.html?thread=14590021#t14590021

I recognise that the tax system just taxes income whether or not a person has a degree or not and the idea of the graduate tax is to add a tax specific to graduates and, heck, the money has to come from _somewhere_ but my problem with the graduate tax is that it taxes on _income_ post graduation, not the cost of the degree fees and the two may be completely unrelated.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

It's worth pointing out that, in the UK at least, the current value of tuition fees is considerably less than the cost of tuition. Finding the number instantly is hard, but off the top of my head it's something of the order of 10%-33%.

(One of the (many) things that really pisses me off about the student finance debate - since at least 1988 - is how rarely these numbers are produced, which is why they're hard to find. Surely the actual cost of tuition is a pretty relevant figure to include in any discussion of how much prospective students should pay for their tuition? But apparently not.)