Laquedem's School Finance Plan

Pseudonymous Oregon blogger Isaac Laquedem has a plan for our school financing problem. In his usual direct style, he dissects the problem cleanly:

One one level, solving the problem is easy: either the schools should spend less, or the taxpayers should pay more.

Of course, it's not really that simple. Read his post for his discussion of the spending side of the equation.

On the revenue side, he's got two fascinating and new (!) ideas:

A tax of one cent per kilowatt-hour on all electricity consumed in the state. Our power companies already have the mechanism in place to collect the tax. This would raise about $300 million per year...

A tax of 20 cents per gallon on gasoline and diesel fuel.... Adding 20 cents to the state tax would leave the state tax at about 17% to 21% of the pretax price, still cheaper in real terms than the levels of the 1960s. This would raise about $300 million per year for the schools.

As always, he's got the facts and figures to flesh it out and back it up.

And best of all, well, cue Isaac:

These two taxes have the side benefit of encouraging businesses and individuals to save energy, and they're consistent with public policy. They don't require any new bureau to administer, and they're easy to understand and explain.

Now, if someone can just figure out who he is, we can run the guy for office.

Head on over to Isaac's blog for all the details and to comment there.

Sept. 18, 2005 Posted in elsewhere.