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news
Tax-free books
bill revived
By Michael Watanabe
On-line Forty-Niner
Tax-free textbooks
may once again become a reality, as Associated Students Inc.
President Robert Garcia, and the other Cal State University
schools prepare to introduce a bill into the California Assembly.
The bill, which
is purely student-driven, had already manifested itself twice
in previous measures, both struck down last year. The only
way to pass a bill would be to reintroduce it.
"At that point
what we've been doing is doing some research about how we
could make the bill successful," Garcia said.
While Garcia had
been researching, he had also been meeting monthly with the
Cal State Student Association. The CSSA is a group consisting
of all 23 California State University Associated Student presidents
on behalf of their respective student bodies.
The CSSA tries
to tackle important issues to the students, said Elliot Sacks,
the director of Statewide Affairs at Cal State Fullerton.
"Last year, what was important was the sales tax on textbooks."
While hammering
out details, the CSSA has also found a new author of the bill,
Garcia said. The author of the bill refused to be named, until
a public press announcement scheduled for Feb. 19.
Besides the support
of the CSSA, the bill has the backing of the United States
Student Association, as well as the backing of the community
colleges.
"I strongly
recommend they [bring the issue up] because it's a great cause,"
said Sarah Keller, the Vice President of the Associated Students
at Orange Coast College, the community college involved last
year.
Last spring, former
Assemblywoman Denise Ducheny, D - San Diego, wrote Assembly
Bill 2348 with the support of former A.S.I. President Toby
Sexton, representatives from Cal State Fullerton and Orange
Coast College. It was then introduced into the California
Assembly.
Sexton had said
that tax-free textbooks would help the University Bookstore
regain money that had been lost due to online vendors who
already offer tax-free books. Dropping the taxes may have
helped sell more books, which would have helped to drop prices.
The excess money would then go toward bookstore-funded scholarships.
After being amended,
the bill was passed by the Committee on Revenue and Taxation
with six ayes and two abstentions. It was then referred to
the appropriations committee where the bill died.
"Ducheny put
the bill as a tax cut in her budget proposal, and then it
got dropped," Garcia said.
One reason for
killing the bill was the cost. According to the California
Postsecondary Education Commission the average full-time student
spends $648 on books and supplies over the year, of which
only the textbooks would enjoy tax-free status. The $50 savings
would be a small one compared with the amount spent.
But, Garcia challenges
that.
"Any amount
of money that can go back into the students' pockets is positive
for students," he said.
On top of that,
the Board of Equalization has estimated an annual loss of
$46.6 million in state and local revenue losses.
After examining
the last bill's failures, Garcia said he sees a solution.
One of the major reasons the last bill had been dropped was
the local taxes.
"We found
out that the city and county really needed that money,"
he said. That section of the bill would be dropped, thus including
the local taxes, and excluding state taxes.
Another problem
critics had were the increased amount of paperwork for the
bookstore. Under the law, each student would have to prove
that a professor had recommended the textbooks for a course.
As for the future,
Garcia plans on meeting with Rep. Steve Horn, R- Lakewood,
and Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal in March. While realizing that
Horn has no direct impact on the decision, Garcia said he
hopes Horn will be able to spread his influence to those that
can make a difference. Garcia also plans on travelling to
Sacramento with a delegation of students.
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