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[James Dasher <jdasher AT ibiblio.org>]

On Nov 9, 2004, at 11:46 AM, Sil Greene wrote:

> Don't put words in my mouth.  The taxes are FOR public education right?
> You can't call it a tuition if it's a tax.  As a tax it's paid by
> everyone, including those who aren't putting kids to those schools.

Okay, to stay away from the issue of education, and just to hit the 
tax-and-distribution topic:

First, there's not actually a "social security trust fund".  There are 
some references on paper to some similar notions, but all the money 
goes into the general pool of funds available for allocation.

Second, in North Carolina, each school gets a per-pupil amount, whether 
it's a public school or a private school, college or elementary school, 
or anything in-between.  Public schools get additional funds for things 
like buildings and janitors and chalk and good sports teams and 
what-not.  The amount three or four years ago was around $4,000; I 
haven't kept up with educational finance, so I don't know the current 
figure.

But that money mostly comes from the top of the taxpayer pile.  Poorer 
people (including the middle class, and some of the upper-middle 
class), and people with fewer assets, pay little and, in some cases, 
nothing.  In North Carolina, there are efforts to allow local school 
districts to assess additional property taxes that would stay in the 
school district and only go toward education, but those efforts haven't 
yet resulted in much.  (Cary is one of the municipalities engaged in 
this effort.)

However you think education in the Republic should be handled, and 
whether you think Social Security will be there for you when you 
finally dodder off to a life of shuffle-board and bridge, are obviously 
topics of some interest.  But please don't interpret this as a 
contribution to either side of the debate.

--
James Dasher
misterdasher dot com
IM misterdasher