4 ms·

How do you make higher education free? Doesn't someone have to still pay for it?

miracle_code 11y ago
How about the big and worth billions companys pay for it, it is their share for the future at last? Just talking out of my ass here, but the american educational system is flawed big time in that regard, let education and teaching be free, everybody profits in the end. But then again, a well schooled and open minded citizen is not needed in the big scheme of american things. Who will fight their wars then??? /s
- webXL 11y ago
  U.S. corporations have a much higher tax rate than the rest of the developed economies. The vast majority of corporations aren't sitting on mountains of cash like Apple. Additional tax expense is financed by a combination of higher prices, input cost cuts, and reduced profitability. You're not going to get much there.
  - enraged_camel 11y ago
    US corporations may have high tax rates but that's only on paper. In practice, they massively benefit from loopholes in the tax code that are too many to count. Not to mention tens of billions in subsidies.
    - webXL 11y ago
      Yeah, but where do those loophole savings go? They flow to shareholders in the form of earnings, which get taxed again, or to consumers in the form of lower costs. You really need to look at total tax revenue per GDP, and we're at the low end of that, but when you consider our high GDP per capita (http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/03/taxes-per-person.html http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/03/taxes-per-person.html), we're in the middle of the pack. We're actually not that stingy on education either: https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=b&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=s&met_s=sp_pop_totl&scale_s=lin&ind_s=false&dimp_c=country:region&met_y=ny_gdp_pcap_cd&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&met_x=se_xpd_totl_gd_zs&scale_x=lin&ind_x=false&idim=country:BEL&ifdim=country:income_level:OEC&tunit=Y&pit=1300345200000&ind=false&icfg&iconSize=0.33 https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...
    - randyrand 11y ago
      And there goes the continuation of offshoring. Next even the companies themselves will leave. Do people really not realize the consequences of these types of actions?
- randyrand 11y ago
  >let education and teaching be free But I don't think many teachers will teach for free. And the ones that do might not be as qualified. You could force them to teach for free, but thats hardly ethical.
henrik_w 11y ago
Taxes (in Sweden at least). Works pretty well.
- webXL 11y ago
  Where do the taxpayers get their money from?
- randyrand 11y ago
  That's not free though. You still have to have people working in order to pay for it. Point being, lets call a spade a spade. They're tax-funded education, tax-funded healthcare. This is what we should be calling it. Because that is what it is. Thats not to say I'm opposed to those things.
DasIch 11y ago
In some countries people consider education to be actually important. If you tax people with high incomes properly, the people that graduate university and get a well paying job will pay so much in taxes you will easily be able to pay for the next generation of students.

How about the big and worth billions companys pay for it, it is their share for the future at last? Just talking out of my ass here, but the american educational system is flawed big time in that regard, let education and teaching be free, everybody profits in the end. But then again, a well schooled and open minded citizen is not needed in the big scheme of american things. Who will fight their wars then??? /s

webXL 11y ago
U.S. corporations have a much higher tax rate than the rest of the developed economies. The vast majority of corporations aren't sitting on mountains of cash like Apple. Additional tax expense is financed by a combination of higher prices, input cost cuts, and reduced profitability. You're not going to get much there.
- enraged_camel 11y ago
  US corporations may have high tax rates but that's only on paper. In practice, they massively benefit from loopholes in the tax code that are too many to count. Not to mention tens of billions in subsidies.
  - webXL 11y ago
    Yeah, but where do those loophole savings go? They flow to shareholders in the form of earnings, which get taxed again, or to consumers in the form of lower costs. You really need to look at total tax revenue per GDP, and we're at the low end of that, but when you consider our high GDP per capita (http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/03/taxes-per-person.html http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/03/taxes-per-person.html), we're in the middle of the pack. We're actually not that stingy on education either: https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=b&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=s&met_s=sp_pop_totl&scale_s=lin&ind_s=false&dimp_c=country:region&met_y=ny_gdp_pcap_cd&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&met_x=se_xpd_totl_gd_zs&scale_x=lin&ind_x=false&idim=country:BEL&ifdim=country:income_level:OEC&tunit=Y&pit=1300345200000&ind=false&icfg&iconSize=0.33 https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...
  - randyrand 11y ago
    And there goes the continuation of offshoring. Next even the companies themselves will leave. Do people really not realize the consequences of these types of actions?
randyrand 11y ago
>let education and teaching be free But I don't think many teachers will teach for free. And the ones that do might not be as qualified. You could force them to teach for free, but thats hardly ethical.

henrik_w 11y ago

Taxes (in Sweden at least). Works pretty well.

webXL 11y ago
Where do the taxpayers get their money from?
randyrand 11y ago
That's not free though. You still have to have people working in order to pay for it. Point being, lets call a spade a spade. They're tax-funded education, tax-funded healthcare. This is what we should be calling it. Because that is what it is. Thats not to say I'm opposed to those things.

DasIch 11y ago

In some countries people consider education to be actually important. If you tax people with high incomes properly, the people that graduate university and get a well paying job will pay so much in taxes you will easily be able to pay for the next generation of students.