When we were talking about school funding and property taxes, I could not help but think that our culture has made taxes a dirty word. Just the mention of "raising taxes" can get a county commissioner voted out of office, so I think it is unrealistic to ask a local politician to raise taxes. In our current climate, he would be committing political suicide. Instead, there is a fundamental selfishness about American culture that really gets in the way. We elect politicians to high office who claim that they are going to cut taxes so we can keep more of OUR money. We bemoan high tax rates (USA tax rate is around an average 27%, according to World Taxpayers Association), while some foreign countries have tax rates (Denmark has almost 60%) much higher. Many times American voters go to the polls with ME and what is important to ME in mind. If we ever are going to change things for those who have not, we have got to change the attitudes of the Haves. If you do not think our society is selfish, let's do away with lottery drawings for one week and tell people that their lottery ticket purchases will go directly to the schools. For one week there will be no winners. I'm sure there would not be many donations. Americans always want to know what is in it for me. I am as guilty as anyone. I suppose it comes down to the question of whether government can really change the hearts and minds of people? It has been tried and we know the results.

John, I completely agree with you. Like Amy said in class, people would rather go to Disney World with ME money than help out a school. In most cases, the ones that do have money can give it to the school as a donation and use it as a tax write off. Thus, they are giving ME money away by choice not because it was mandated.

In my county, it's a classic scenario of the "haves" in one end of the county and the "have nots" at the other. The "haves" are there partly because of lower tax rates...many have grown children and are not concerned about the schools. As far as those who do have children, they will contribute to the ongoing parade of fundraising events and knowing that the money will be raised in order to maintain the best schools in the county.

The "have nots" are not historically your voters... and even if they were, they do not have a clear enough understanding of poliitics to see how raising taxes could possibly benefit them as a citizen.

Nobody wants to change!

I am a bit of an optimist. I think people would like to change. They perhaps only want to do it on their terms.

Any politician who even mentions raising taxes pays a dear price. What everyone including the "haves" need to recognize is that we all have a stake in the ultimate success/ failure of every kid in the public schools. In the bigger picture we also have a huge responsibility.

I think that is the problem. You can't argue that the haves will be better off, because they are already better off. Perhaps instead, the haves need to walk in the shoes of those who don't have for awhile. They need to know the gut wrenching feeling of wondering how you are going to find money for all the bills. They need to sit in classrooms with leaky ceilings. They need to experience this firsthand. Then perhaps it will be possible to appeal to their morality. Taxes can be raised to help repair this school building not because it is in my "own selfish interest." Taxes can be raised because to renovate a crumbling school building because it is the moral thing to do.

You're absolutely right about viewing taxes as a dirty word for the general public. I understand the idea of how raising property taxes can help fund schools, but its not easy to convince lower income counties that higher taxes will make an impact on thier child's school. Not to mention, many lower income families don't vote for local elections in the first place.

Alicia, you're absolutely right. A lot of people I talk to, even those who are not in lower socioeconomic groups only vote in elections where they have a chance to choose a president, governor or senator, and completely disregard local elections. If this is true for many in the middle class, I'm sure it's even more true for lower/working class people. In my if we're going to change things, we have to (somehow) make it apparent to everyone that local elections are just as important as statewide and national elections.

Nobody likes to pay more money in taxes. It seems that if we could reassure/prove to citizens that the money is actually being used to improve education there might be a better response. Just like with the lottery in NC. Is it true that the profit from this is already spent to take care of the deficit? So again, citizens are not going to see alot of immediate improvements. And as we all know, we are a culture of immediate satisfaction. We want it now.

I hate paying taxes but I know that most of my local taxes go to help the community. It is all the hidden taxes in sales, communication, and other taxes that really add up over time that make it hard to see the benefits. It amazes me that the tax code is written to encourage debt. The more you save, invest, get out of debt, and limit the number of dependents the more taxes you pay.