Voting on Propositions

                                        

Fallacious view of Prop 30

         Proposition 30 which will be an initiative on the November ballot requires a lot of information and understanding to decide to vote for or against the proposition. The proposition is mainly an increase on tax for people whose income is above 250,000 for seven years and a four year sales tax increase of ¼ cent that will affect everyone. It will increase revenue for state budget from 2018-2019 and increase school funding and public safety. This proposition if passed will greatly affect the future of education for the state of California. Opponents against the proposition passing are using arguments that don’t hold enough ground and are using fallacies to support their arguments. Many of these arguments have fallacies that are misunderstood and explained resulting in a misinformed idea of what Proposition 30 is about.

            Proposition 30 is going to increase tax but it’s temporary to help improve California education and economy. Arguments are being made by opponents, such as Columnist Debra Saunders," I fear it will drive golden geese out of state, sure most families earning $500,00 aren’t going to move over lousy $5,000 but moguls who make 20 times that and own multiple homes just might decide to migrate. And there go all their tax dollars.” This is a slippery slope fallacy that is assuming that wealthy people will move as a result of this proposition being passed which isn’t the case because many of these moguls have made their businesses in California and have helped build the Silicon Valley. These “lousy $5,000” that will be added to the states budget will in fact help increase revenue in this upcoming years. When you compare countries and even states who have higher taxes they are better society. Countries with low tax have been unable to provide the right type of education and work for their people. With this increase in tax we are increasing our states chance to improve, given seven years.

            If this proposition doesn’t pass the condition of education will get worse before getting a chance to improve. The voter guide states that, “In the last four years alone, our schools have been hit with $20 billion in cuts, over $30,000 fewer teachers and class sizes that are among the largest in the country.”  In the next year, state will reduce spending of about $6 billion to education programs and this will cause students to take longer to complete their studies and even longer for them to join the workforce and create new possible businesses and innovations to help our state revenue grow.  The seven year income tax will be able to help students graduate faster in four to five years and if not supported will be stuck in this situation were students will be taking six-seven years just to graduate because universities are accepting less students and don’t have enough classes and teachers to teach.

            Molly Munger, is an opponent of prop 30 who is pushing voters to support prop 38 because it is, “ the main engine we have for social mobility and opportunity in our society, K-12 Schools.  But, how is it logically going to create revenue in our state if we only support K-12 education when Prop 30 will be helping K-12, colleges and Universities as well as public safety funding. Molly Munger also hastily generalizes that, “under our proposal, virtually all the cuts that schools have suffered in the last four years would be restored-and under the governors initiative, virtually none would be.” There is no possible way that can happen because Prop38 isn’t going to be allocating revenue to colleges and universities. Colleges and Universities are the focus of the future because they are creating future workers and without them the state will lose a lot.

            One of the biggest issues that opponents are having with prop 30 is they are concerned that it is just a “$50 Billion Political “Shell Game”—But Doesn’t Guarantee New Funds for Schools.” The fact is that Universities and our education system will decline further because budgets will be cut and this is the only proposition that can help make a change. It is clearly stated in the voter guide that Prop 30 provides for mandatory audit, which insures fund only for schools and public safety and cannot be used for anything else. There are no hidden agendas being run by politicians because “the money raised for schools is directed into a special fund the legislature can’t touch and can’t be used for state bureaucracy.”

            Overall, Proposition 30 is offering hope to many students across the states that are trying to achieve a better future through education. It is also giving hope for better economy and revenue for state with this seven-year income tax and four year sales tax. If this hope is taken away because opponents on prop 30 are assuming that money wont given directly to education than that is something opponents should be focusing on. Making sure once passed that all the technicalities of using money for education is properly disbursed instead of closing the door completely on any chance of possibility for better future for California in these upcoming years.