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Show Page 11 SIGNPOST October 22, 1965 Tax Credits Urged To Help Pay College Cost A plan designed to ease the financial burden of parents of college students and to create new sources for the establishment of scholarships is receiving increasing attention and support from both educators and legislators.The concept of granting tax credits for some expenses of higher education has had bipartisan backing in both houses of Congress for more than a decade, but has never been enacted into law. Now there are signs that a tuition tax credit measure may pass in the current session of the 89th Congress. In 1964, a bill introduced by Senators Abraham A. Ribicoff, D., Conn., and Peter H. Dominick, R., Colo., and co-sponsored by thirty-five senators of both parties failed passage by the narrow margin of 48 votes to 45. The bill has been reintroduced in the present Congress. During recent weeks added support for tax credit legislation has come from such groups as the Young Republican Federation and the House Republican Conference. Educators, too, are demonstrating strong backing for the measure. Interim results of a poll being conducted by the Citizens National Committee for Higher Education (CNCHE) of South Bend, Indiana, sliow that more than 89 per cent of college presidents and trustees responding favor the principles embodied in tuition tax credit. Educational organizations voicing support for the principle include the Association of American Colleges and the Citizens for Educational Freedom. -The tuit ion tax cx edit none ept stems from widespread concern over the mounting costs of tuition and fees at both private and publicly supported colleges and universities. Proponents of the measure note that costs have been rising at an increasing rate, and that all evidence' indicates that they will continue to do so. The reason, they point out, is that - increased enrollments, necessary increases in faculty salaries, and general increases in expenses have forced annual operating budgets sharply upward. The increased budgets have been mirrored almost universally in alarming rises in the cost of a college education to the student and his family. Tuition tax credit was conceived to relieve financial pressure on persons paying for college educations and to reduce the threat of students being priced off the campus. The measure- would permit a credit against the Federal income tax of persons paying for tuition, fees, and other essential expenses of college students. Advocates of the plan emphasize the difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction. Each dollar of credit would reduce a person's tax by one dollar. If a taxpayer owed $1,000 at the end of the tax year and had qualified for a $400 tax credit, he would owe the Federal Government only $600 in income tax. A $400 tax credit would save exactly $400 for the individual whether he earned $5,000 a year or $20,000. A deduction, on the other hand, would save a $20,000-a-year man more tax dollars than a$5,000-a-year man. The Ribicoff-Dominick measure typical of the many tax credit bills put forth by members of both houses in recent years-is based on the first $1,500 paid for tuition, fees, books, and supplies per student at an institution of higher learning. The amount of credit would be 75 per cent of the first $200 spent, 25 per cent of the next $300, and 10 per cent of the next $1,000. The maximum credit allowable would be $325. The tax credit would come to anyone student, relative, friend, or benefactor paying the educational costs. Broad assistance in support of the most needy students could, therefore, be generated by the colleges and universities themselves.In addition, scholarship-holding students from middle-income families could reduce their scholarships to the extent that they received tax credits. This would permit institutions to make more generous and more selective use of increasingly inadequate scholarship funds. Opposition to tuition tax credit has come from several quarters. Much has been based on a lack of understanding about differences between a tax deduction--which would tend to favor higher-income taxpayers and a tax credit which would save the lower and middle-income taxpayer a higher Continued on page 12 Philosophical Critic Three People, Three Principles by George Butsikares There are some individuals on campus who merit mention by name for qualities perhaps many other unknown students also possess. The people about to be mentioned may or may not be accomplished in the eyes of the world, yet each has something special worth emulation, something beyond surface education. In the field of creative writing, perhaps the potentially greatest writer on campus is a Signpost staff member named Cheryl Lorenc. How does a writer obtain insight and meaningful eloquence? How does one become able to write concretely based fiction in which there is on the one hand no extrinsic preaching yet on the other a powerful impact intrinsically? Such maturity of ability and depth of feeling is evidenced in few enough professional writers, let alone college students. In last week's "Signpost" Cheryl wrote the editorial on page two, "Pooh Cat," and the short story "The Raspberry Orgy." In that one paper she handled straight forward and intelligent editorializing, sharp yet humorous satire, and a moving short fictional selection. "The Raspberry Orgy," when read within the context of the meaning of the lyrical first few lines, is a short short classic. Another person of unusually deep perception is one who would undoubtedly prefer his name not to be mentioned. Yet much of his efforts, although still in embryo, might never ultimately corrle to light if no one becomes his advocate. Carl J. Snowball is a philosopher poet writer who, like a diamond in the rough, yet needs structuring and polishing. But his initial outpourings are honest literarily, without insincere nor uninteresting extraneous conceits, and reveal depth and potential. The unusual thing about Carl is that on his own he has fashioned a few uniquely original philosophical concepts (that is, if there is such a thing as a new idea under the sun). With the single presupposition that his basic assumptions be accepted, his philosophies are logically sound. Mr. Neil Lambert, new addition to the English department, is one of a rare breed of men. He is the proverbial "nice guy" in actuality. Genial, cheerful, understanding despite almost all provocation, he is of that mild and temperate disposition which, by its very nature, enhances all encountered. In that regard his personality is somewhat like that of Mr. Gordon Allred, also of the English department. Others could be mentioned, but in this context these three suffice for purposes of emulation. $00 ft flLL "Boor J 20? n Of? JJ aSLxHm lifting l)yt SATUmy-tfcToBFR 3o-tk Two HoAo Movies "Die MomsTekDie !" (a.Yiet" of Hie VampiLts CEMEWTVRy StonopDAiCE The "Bem lomomd &m?age tyt3cl5th GWOSTM-Go-Go-CLUB . Bucket 4 BLooD? s S?ooK A U- 100 JuA 1woJ -HUNTe-D 4!ouse"Boo 4lLlhsF. .SO Pea Person. Show ?;a, U :oo p M |