Proposal

Title: Proposition 30: Taxing our way to better school system

Author: I’m 26-year-old community college student from a low income back round, and passion to teach future students.

Date: October 2012, four years after the Housing Market crash, and currently still recovering economy from our largest recession in decades.

Topic: Is addressing proposition 30 a tax measure that will increase sales tax a ¼ cent for four years, and personal income taxes on those individuals making $250,00 a year or more by 1-3%

Exigency: A budget reduction has caused for budget cuts to California’s public education system k-12+2, which in turn has created a broken over crowded school system, and a loss of jobs and a reduction educated Californian residents.

Intended Audience: California’s undecided voters, as well as those intending to vote no on the proposition.

Claim: California’s education system has suffered from the economic down turn, and prop 30 is the first step in restoring the system to it’s former glory.

Evidence:

Logos-Proposition 30 is rise in California’s sales tax a quarter of a cent for the next four years, and also includes a raise from 1-3% in personal income tax for individuals making over $250,000 or more a year in personal income for seven years. This tax does not include capital gains taxes, which are stocks, bonds, real estate, or any asset used to make money. This tax measure is projected to accrue six billion dollars annually, and fifty billion dollars in tax revenues over the next seven years.  If this measure does not pass at the polls in November, the state will have to cut 5.4 billion dollars this year from the budget, which would be catastrophic for the school system that receives it’s funding from the state budget. There is 51.9% allocation for the schools in the state budget, but even 51.9% isn’t a lot when a state, much like California, is 16 billion dollars in the debt. Without the collective help from the people of California our school systems will face expansive cuts, and possible closures.

Pathos- There are 6,263,438 students in our k-12 public education system, and over 2,400,000 students in our community college system. As well as students being affected you’d also see around 57,711 academic staff members whose jobs may be at stake. Those who would be affected rise in personal income taxes if prop 30 passes would be approximately 400,000 people.  Some might think it is unfair for those who earn the most to be punished for it by having to pay higher taxes on their hard earned money, but if you just look at the numbers it becomes very clear that we as a populous would be hurting far many more people by not passing prop 30 than if we didn’t.

Ethos- Currently I’m a member of 2,400,000 people attending California’s Community College system, and without it I couldn’t dream of a higher education. I come from a family where college is a dream, and how you realize that dream is entirely up to you. My family would be put into a lower socio-economic bracket, which most people refer to as lower class.  All four of my sisters and I have used the California Community College system as a means to achieve a higher education. When we were in high school we all had to work around 24-30 hours a week to help support ourselves and our family, so perfect grades were nearly impossible. The community college and other public education systems are sometimes a person’s only means to be able to get a college degree. As well as affecting my present this proposition also affects my future. I’m currently attending college to be a community college teacher, and the thought of finishing my degree with nowhere to teach is a devastating thought.