Through the Tubes: Part I
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008Let’s talk about tax dollars.
First, I’ll be straight: I receive the benefit of a tax-funded education. I’m writing this on a school computer, a machine paid for by the district. I was homeschooled for a time, so I’ve seen two worlds of education and couldn’t say which has helped me more. I’m grateful for the opportunities that have been provided by this education, but as a future taxpayer, I also see the school district as an inefficient machine.
The residents of Greenville County (who own a car) receive one of these every year:
Exciting. What’s more interesting is this breakdown:
That’s right. 56% of all vehicle taxes go to the schools. That’s a lot of money. Even in this sample from the county tax website, it’s $1,370.69. For one car.
There must be a lot of cars in Greenville County, because according to the 2007-2008 Greenville County School District (GCSD) budget report, the total local tax revenue was $156,191,700.
My sister (who is in college) jokes that she doesn’t understand numbers above one million. As an amount of money, I certainly can’t wrap my head around one hundred fifty-six million dollars. If I got this answer in math class, I’d recheck my work. This is not a reasonable answer.
So where does this money go? A lot goes to perfectly reasonable things, like getting kids to school, which costs $10,935,418. That’s buying new buses, maintaining the old ones, and finding trustworthy employees to drive them.
Another $1,109,317 is set aside for teacher supplies. And yet teachers at my school have to beg students for dry erase markers? Something is wrong here.