Most people would be willing to pay higher taxes for public schools and health and human services, according to a new report from the Pew Center on the States. But more taxation for colleges? Not so much. The center has just released an analysis of public attitudes about the fiscal problems in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, and New York, which make up nearly a third of the country’s population and economic output. Collectively, the states also account for 45 percent of the total budget gaps that states will face in the current fiscal year. Nearly 70 percent of respondents to Pew’s survey said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to protect public schools. Higher education, however, was a distant third on that particular question, behind health and human services, with fewer than half of those polled saying they would pay more taxes to maintain money for colleges.
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3 Responses to Higher Taxes for Higher Ed? Maybe Not
zagros - October 7, 2010 at 8:43 am
I think that there is a growing desire to have college students contribute more towards their own education, as well as a belief that colleges have a lot of waste since the public (and legislators) have not been properly educated on the importance of research. Oftentimes we get questions about why faculty members “only” work 8-15 hours, 9 months a year, and yet get paid so much. It is as if the public (and legislators) believe that we only get paid for teaching our classes and do nothing else.By the way, at least in California, the community colleges are oftentimes seen in the same light as K-12, so, to the extent that people did not do that, our higher education numbers will likely fall as the public seems to place more value on community colleges than on universities when it comes to public support.
jffoster - October 7, 2010 at 8:47 am
Interesting that the %age willing to pay more taxes for HE is lowest (though not by a lot) in Arizona, and Arizona is the one state among these five that I’m pretty sure is not over supplied with state colleges/universities.
henry_goodelman - November 16, 2010 at 12:46 am
It’s more vital to ensure the public funding of higher education through increased taxes than to cut public funding in the name of less spending.