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Tax-free textbooks?
By Marten Lewerth
On-line Forty-Niner
An initiative backed
by former Associated Students Inc. Presidents Toby Sexton
and Robert Garcia to eliminate sales taxes on textbooks is
currently in limbo, due to strong opposition from powerful
state organizations.
Assembly Bill 1246, authored by Assemblyman Bill Leonard,
R-San Bernardino, calls for a statewide exemption from sales
and use taxes on college textbooks for students at the higher-learning
level
Although this measure would save students a variable amount
of money each semester, it would also deplete funds used to
support public school systems in the state of California.
The bill went to the California Assembly with support from
both the California State Students Association and the Association
of Community Colleges.
However, Leonard's measure is currently in a state of suspension
and is unsure whether he will pursue the issue when sessions
reconvene in January, according to his chief of staff Janice
Rutherford.
"The bill has met strong opposition from the State Department
of Finance and the California Teachers Association,"
Rutherford said.
The teachers' organization is against the bill because textbook
taxes contribute to the funds that support public learning
institutions.
"The CTA opposes tax-cut legislation that reduces state
General Fund revenue," said Mike Myslinski, spokesman
for the 300,000-member teachers' group. "The bill would
reduce funding public schools, as entitled under Proposition
98."
Proposition 98 deals with voter-enacted minimums set for funding
public schools across California.
The Department of Finance's arguments run along the same lines.
"[The bill] would cost the state $35 million per year
in lost revenue," said department spokesman Sandy Harrison.
"Further, it would make the tax administration more complex."
Emily Foster, vice chair of internal affairs for the CSSA,
said the bill is more than likely doomed because of these
powerful opponents.
"It might come out, it might die in committee,"
she said. "We pretty much think it's going to die."
Former Assemblywoman Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, originally
introduced the idea of tax-free textbooks into the Assembly
in February of 2000.
Sexton, as well as representatives from Cal State Fullerton
and Orange Coast College, was an active supporter of Ducheny's
initiative (Assembly Bill 2348).
After being amended the bill was passed by the Committee on
Revenue and Taxation, but later died before an appropriations
committee.
Current A.S.I. President Wayne Stickney-Smith said Sexton
was very involved with the issue.
"Toby pioneered it and had it ready to go," he said,
"but it lost momentum."
Robert Garcia took up the issue when succeeding Sexton as
A.S.I. president last fall.
Garcia said in article published by the On-line Forty-Niner
in February that he was researching the matter in conjunction
with meetings with the CSSA, and planned to contact Leonard
after mounting an on-campus petition drive to gather student
support.
Stickney-Smith added that the issue is not currently on his
administration's priority list.
"It would be a good thing," he said, "but I
didn't have that good of a transition period. So, many of
the things on the plate before didn't get passed down to me."
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