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Pay it Forward College/Training Fund Idea Government or Nonprofit

Here's an idea to provide college or other training funding. I'll say college education, but this could mean learning any trade as well. I think this should be a government program because as a government program we, as the government, get the most out of it. But maybe it's okay as a nonprofit too because people who invest in the non-profit can deduct the money from their taxes.

Here's the education program:

Give people $60k for education. We provide the funding to the people getting educated now and they pay it back through a 4% income tax for the next 30 years. If this is a non-profit, then this would be a volunteer tax to pay it forward.

Right now, a college educated person makes more than 50% more than a person with a high school diploma.

In terms of tax revenue, we (the people that make up this government) will make a lot more money from a college educated person.  That's a very good investment for us as the tax collectors and for those who pay the extra 4% tax on there income.

Here's an example:

Martha makes $16 an hour with high school diploma but a couple of years experience. Here income is not likely to move for the next 20 years.  So this is $32,000 a year. Over thirty years, this is $960,000. We probably should not collect taxes from someone who only makes that much because they are already having a hard enough time, but let's assume we take 15% income tax. Or $144,000 over 30 years or $4800 per year.

Now Alisa gets a college degree. Her salary goes up 50%, and because she's starting at a higher level, she'll probably go up even more over the years. But for basic calculations, let's keep salaries the same. So she's at $24 per hour or $48,000 per year or $1,440,000 over 30 years. At 15%, we  collect $216,000 in taxes from her, plus 57,600 back from the 4% college program.  The government is up $72,000, plus $57,600. Alisa is up $350,000! $11,000 more per year!

The math shows that we, as the people in this government, should being paying  for education without the 4% added because the investment potential is large. We turned a $60,000 investment into a person into $216,000. That's a huge payoff! But their is always a myopic viewer who will ask "who's going to pay for it?" By adding a 4% tax, we are putting the payment on to just the people using the money for education. However, my opinion is we, as the people of this country should pay for the education of anyone who wants to learn more. 




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