Utterly Meaningless » Blog Archive » HEADS UP: ND
  • HEADS UP: ND

    Filed at 8:43 am under by dcobranchi

    The devil is always in the details:

    There are bills advocating a sales tax exemption for clothes, sports equipment and protective gear, a $100-per-child state income tax credit, and a tax deduction of up to $2,000 for the cost of textbooks and instructional supplies used for home schooling.

    3 Responses to “HEADS UP: ND”


    Comment by
    speedwell
    January 18th, 2009
    at 6:08 pm

    Tax breaks for children and homeschooling? OK, everyone should have tax breaks for everything in general, but the current system based on “greed of the needy” is so broken.

    I’d like a reimbursement of the tax money I (a childless woman) spent on the children of other families, please. I need the money to help directly support the needs of my own nephews and nieces. It’s not fair to assume that because my own body didn’t actually produce any live babies I have to be stolen from in order to finance the choices of people I don’t even know. It’s especially unfair when I’m the only one in my extended family actually making enough to slightly more than support myself, and I use everything I can to help out my brother’s and sister’s kids.

    Many homeschooling parents make much more than I do even when you count their children, yet they expect me to help pay for their clothing, food, and educational expenses in the form of the taxes I pay. Hey, if I got to keep my own money, maybe I, too, could afford to complete my own education. I might even afford to have my own kids someday.

    I have a better idea. I am a professional instructor. That’s what I do for a living. Why mightn’t kids’ families hire me directly to teach piano, or tutor English composition, or teach office computing, or write their instructional materials? Then it would be less like being treated like a slave (to the extent I’m expected to work without compensation).

    Because the point will undoubtedly get missed by those who think I should shut up and pay for their children, I want to reiterate that I already pay for children that aren’t mine. I just want some say in the process.


    Comment by
    Daryl Cobranchi
    January 18th, 2009
    at 6:24 pm

    Wow, speedwell, that’s some interesting info. I didn’t know that you didn’t have kids. Didn’t know that you were a teacher.

    But I’m sure you know that I’m almost automatically opposed to any kind of tax break for homeschooling. And for the very reasons you cite. Paying taxes for the public schools is a decision that we’ve all made (or was made many years ago for us). It doesn’t matter how many kids you or I have or don’t have. It doesn’t matter if I use the g-schools or not. So, I’m on your side.

    My comment about the devil being in the details only meant that this is either something to keep an eye on or to storm the legislature over. It all depends on what the bill says.

    And as for you tutoring in your community (or even online), have you tried? Your comments here are always sharp. I have no doubt that you’d be successful tutoring on the side.


    Comment by
    speedwell
    January 20th, 2009
    at 10:19 pm

    Daryl, my apologies for the tone of my comment above… a combination of mental exhaustion and political indigestion. I shouldn’t have gone off on you. You’re gracious. 🙂

    Yeah… as far as having kids, I have my extended family’s kids. As far as being a teacher… not in school; I am the lead corporate trainer and first line tech support for the engineering database software I administer, and my brother designs web training courses too, and we are both pretty good at it, if I say so who shouldn’t. 😀

    Years ago I thought I’d like to start a school for children here in Texas along the lines of Summerhill. Although I seem to have been overtaken by ordinary life since then, I guess nothing’s impossible. I did host a chat room a while back for gifted teenagers, and we had a great time. I had another intemperate rant posted up at nfgcc.org about a decade ago (by their request), and you can find out more about me there if you like.

    I really appreciate the work you do on this blog, by the way. You do provide a lot of inspiration and encouragement to me and, indirectly, to my family. I’m too fickle to have a blog of my own… to me it’s too much like drawing a baseball diamond on a wall and then trying to hit a pop fly to center field; no good solo, not enough scope. 🙂 I do better as the occasional reactionary.