EDITOR: Emulate Proposition 13 ("Students have a point about rising tuition," Editorial, Wednesday)? It hasn't exactly improved K-12 education in California.
As your editorial points out, lower state support has been largely responsible for huge increases in college tuition. I doubt that limiting tuition increases will increase state support. The only way to increase state support for higher education is to increase taxes or reduce services in other areas. State services are already near the bottom.
We tax ourselves to pay for things that improve our common good. Too many people have the attitude that the government is an outside enemy that is stealing from us. No, our government represents our collective interests, which we have to pay for.
Having a well-educated populace certainly improves our common good. Yes, it brings great financial benefits to the individual but even that helps the common good through the higher taxes they pay.
Our excellent public university systems have paved the way for many Californians to earn high incomes, so they are the ones who should shoulder the greatest burden of increased taxes. The current state income tax rate is 10.3 percent for income over $1 million. I would like to see it increase to 11.3 percent for incomes over $2 million, 12.3 percent over $3 million, etc.
ROBERT PLANTZ
Professor emeritus, Sonoma State University
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