美国国家公共电台 NPR What A Tax Overhaul Could Mean For Students And Schools

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Lawmakers are trying to reconcile two different versions of a tax bill, one passed by the House, the other by the Senate. They do seem to agree - Republicans, anyway - on two changes that affect America's schools. NPR's Cory Turner reports.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE¹: The first change has to do with something called a 529. That's a plan taxpayers² can use to save money for college, where the earnings³ grow tax-free. Now Republicans want to let taxpayers use 529s to pay for K-12 tuition at private and religious schools. Now, families can already do that with a different plan, but that one has low contribution limits, and it isn't open to high-income Americans. This move would expand both.

NORA GORDON: I think the only taxpayers who will be in a position to benefit from the 529 change are very rich people.

TURNER: Nora Gordon is an economist⁴ and associate professor at Georgetown University. She says using these accounts to save for K-12 schooling⁵ won't help much unless you can afford to set aside a lot of money early on. When the Government Accountability Office studied these plans a few years ago, it found families who use them had about 25 times the median financial assets of those who don't.

While that change would help largely affluent⁶ parents who use private schools, change No. 2 could hurt funding for public schools. And this one is all about SALT - state and local taxes. Up to now, taxpayers who itemize their deductions⁸ - generally, high earners - have gotten a break from the federal government for paying state and local taxes. Think of it as a discount, courtesy of Washington, that ultimately helps state and local governments pay for important things like schools. Now Republicans want to limit or get rid of those discounts.

JOHN FRIEDMAN: This bill is going to make it more painful for residents to increase local property taxes to pay for public schools.

TURNER: John Friedman is an associate professor of economics at Brown University. He says, on average, nearly half of public schools' funding comes from local taxes, usually property taxes. In the past, when locals hiked property taxes to help pay for their schools, the federal government made it hurt less with that SALT deduction⁷. But limit the deduction, and some voters and politicians might even call for tax cuts instead.

GORDON: This is a really big deal for some states and no deal at all for other states. And the states that it's a really big deal for are blue states.

TURNER: States like New York, Connecticut and New Jersey¹⁰, says Georgetown's Nora Gordon.

GORDON: They are states with higher cost of living, higher property values and states that spend more on their state and local government.

TURNER: In addition to wanting to limit the deduction on local property taxes, Republicans in the House and Senate may also get rid of the deductions for state-level sales and income taxes, which are just as important to schools. Kim Rueben of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says states have been using these taxes to fund some of their poorest schools.

KIM RUEBEN: The money from the state ends up helping¹¹ to prop⁹ up school districts that have less ability to raise money from the property tax.

TURNER: Getting rid of these discounts, Rueben says, will make state-level taxes more painful, and that could make voters less likely to approve new money for schools. And all of this is happening with many of America's public schools still reeling from the Great Recession. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, after adjusting for inflation, 29 states provided less overall state funding per student in 2015 than they did back in 2008.

Cory Turner, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSS LIQUID'S "OPUS ONE")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

3 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

6 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

7 deduction   

n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎

参考例句：

• No deduction in pay is made for absence due to illness.因病请假不扣工资。
• His deduction led him to the correct conclusion.他的推断使他得出正确的结论。

8 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

9 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

10 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。