Types of Taxes to Maintain Schools
- Local taxes provide the majority of school funding.Shana Novak/Stockbyte/Getty Images
Perhaps the most important service a government provides its citizens today in every country is public education of one sort or another. It is one service the effects of which can be seen dramatically in everyday lives. The education level of any population is directly related to its economic well-being. School funding is directly related to the education level of any population and therefore also its economic well being. Communities in the United States support public education with various types of taxes. - By far the most important source of school funding in the United States is the money that comes from local property taxes. These taxes are the main source of funding for all local government services. Critics of this arrangement point out that those students who come from less wealthy areas of the country are often left with poorly funded schools this way because the revenues from their local property taxes are inadequate.
- One way of supplementing the money for schools that is traditionally taken from local property taxes is to introduce special sales taxes. Often these taxes will be specifically targeted at items that are already held in disrepute such as tobacco and liquor, thus easing the political costs. One benefit of local sales taxes is that they also take money from those who live in other areas who only happen to shop in a school district.
- The federal government supplies funding that is distributed nationally to local school districts. This money comes in large part from the federal income tax as well as several other federal taxes. This money does not serve as the majority of funding for any one school district, but it has come to be an important part of almost every school's budget. Advocates hope that this way funding for schools might be equalized regardless of local wealth.
