Obama Political Test

[OCBuckWife]

Not a very funny rigged thing but here's my score.

You scored 41
You show promise, but you must study the writings of Barack, and you must tithe.

[sepia5]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeMike80

Screw that. you're not in college (supposedly) to do anything else but get your degree. Partying is nice and community service is nice too, but the goal is your degree.

Good mentality. One goal at a time. No need to encourage community service.

[AKAKBUCK]

Originally Posted by sepia5

Good mentality. One goal at a time. No need to encourage community service.

Well, its true that Obama will need to train his army of bureaucrats to run the post neo-con liberal revolution that will be sweeping the nation, so best to get used to sucking down the tax resources in exchange for "community service" now.

[BuckeyeMike80]

Originally Posted by methomps

This is aimed at those who wouldn't otherwise get a degree since they can't afford to go to college.

and because it will allow you to opt-out if you want too....sure thing....

Better yet - good luck controlling it. We know using an honor system is a joke, but how the hell do you even START to count the hours? Our friggin criminal justice system can't even control people sometimes so we are expecting the colleges and universities to do it instead? Right.....

Originally Posted by sepia5

Good mentality. One goal at a time. No need to encourage community service.

Who said anything about not encouraging community service? Requiring it, however, is retarded.

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeMike80

Screw that. you're not in college (supposedly) to do anything else but get your degree. Partying is nice and community service is nice too, but the goal is your degree.

And you can still go to college and party your ass off. But the government won't help pay for it unless you do community service. Rewarding good behavior with a tax credit - not exactly unheard of.

Originally Posted by BuckeyeMike80

Better yet - good luck controlling it. We know using an honor system is a joke, but how the hell do you even START to count the hours? Our friggin criminal justice system can't even control people sometimes so we are expecting the colleges and universities to do it instead?

I would assume it would be self-reporting with a chance for an audit of the reported hours. If you want to take a chance and report hours that weren't really worked, you run the risk of losing your credit and being fined. Just like every other self-reported items on a tax return. Like charitable donations and business expenses.

Who said anything about not encouraging community service? Requiring it, however, is retarded.

I wouldn't flat-out say it is required. I'd say it is required IF you want the government's assistance. Again, just the government encouraging good behavior.

People (I don't know if you are one of them) have called for this sort of system for the social programs for a long time.

I don't see how being forced to work for a tax credit is in any way worse than being given a tax credit.

[MaxBuck]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeMike80

... Who said anything about not encouraging community service? Requiring it, however, is retarded.

GPA!

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

GPA!

I still don't get it. Nobody is required to perform the service. Rather than looking at the community service as a punishment for the tax credit, I see the tax credit as a reward for community service.

I mean, if the government is going to be giving tax credits to college students anyway, wouldn't it be a good thing to know that those students receiving the benefit are bettering their community?

[MaxBuck]

Originally Posted by Bucky Katt

I still don't get it. Nobody is required to perform the service. Rather than looking at the community service as a punishment for the tax credit, I see the tax credit as a reward for community service.

I mean, if the government is going to be giving tax credits to college students anyway, wouldn't it be a good thing to know that those students receiving the benefit are bettering their community?

The bolded part is what I have the problem with. I really don't see this as a good idea. And tying it to community service doesn't justify it.

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

The bolded part is what I have the problem with. I really don't see this as a good idea. And tying it to community service doesn't justify it.

If you are against the existing education credits as-is, then I have no real issue there.

However, I don't see those going away anytime soon and in my opinion, this plan is an improvement over the existing ones.

[mooktarr]

Originally Posted by Bucky Katt

I still don't get it. Nobody is required to perform the service. Rather than looking at the community service as a punishment for the tax credit, I see the tax credit as a reward for community service.

I mean, if the government is going to be giving tax credits to college students anyway, wouldn't it be a good thing to know that those students receiving the benefit are bettering their community?

Jmo but this comes across about the same as a student getting a job.

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by Bucky Katt

If you are against the existing education credits as-is, then I have no real issue there.

However, I don't see those going away anytime soon and in my opinion, this plan is an improvement over the existing ones.

I guess I could buy into "community service" but I would like to know what the students are going to be doing in order to earn $40 an hour. If they had an actual job that paid $40 an hour, they would make a little over $40,000 annually. I think that is a little excessive. How about $10 an hour and let them work 400 hours. There are too many unanswered questions just to throw this out as a tax credit.

[AKAKBUCK]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

If they had an actual job that paid $40 an hour, they would make a little over $40,000 annually. I think that is a little excessive.

Hey, Litl, you looking for a job, I can pay you $20 an hour... but, don't worry if your statement looks off, it will add up to 20K, don't you worry about that.

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by mooktarr

Jmo but this comes across about the same as a student getting a job.

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're asking why the government should be paying college students $40/hour to do community service?

$40/hour ($4,000 credit/100 hours worked) < infinity ($2,000/0 hours worked) is one way of looking at it. Another, probably more fair, way of looking at is that they would be increasing the credit by $2000 and adding the service requirement of 100 hours for a $20/hour rate.

Hmm, let me split out my stance a bit better. At this point, I am neither for nor against the increase in the credit amount. With the escalating cost of higher education, I can certainly see an argument for increasing the limits just to keep pace. I can also see the argument for increasing it beyond the scope of the increases in education costs in order to pursue that stated goal of making college more affordable to those who otherwise may not be able to afford it. And a larger percentage of the populace with more education is a good thing. However, the money has to come from somewhere. More taxes, presumably. Is the additional tax really worth the additional benefit? Beats me.

Now for the community service portion. As the current system stands, the credit is given freely (Max of $1650 for Hope, max of $2000 for Lifetime Learning). The only thing you have to do to get the credit is have the right expenses and have earnings under a certain threshold. Making students serve the community for 100 hours (2 hours a week ain't [censored] - I still remember college - my friends spent at least 2 hours each week worshiping the porcelain goddess ) seems like a pretty reasonable demand in order to qualify. You don't want to do the service? No problem, just don't expect the assistance.

As to the overall debate of whether ANY education credits should exist.....I guess that's a debate for another day.

Wow.....glad the "quiz" in the first post sucked, because I am waaaay the hell off-topic now.

[BuckeyeMike80]

Originally Posted by Bucky Katt

I still don't get it. Nobody is required to perform the service. Rather than looking at the community service as a punishment for the tax credit, I see the tax credit as a reward for community service.

I mean, if the government is going to be giving tax credits to college students anyway, wouldn't it be a good thing to know that those students receiving the benefit are bettering their community?

again giving the tax credits is fine but good luck administering any type of community service program along with it. And better yet, good luck funding those bureaucrats charged with accounting for those hours, along with defining what is acceptable community service....

And add to that, how many college students not named Reggie Bush ( ) are making enough money to even GET a $4,000 tax credit?? What's is that number based upon? Total income? Total income of the family? Total what?

This "plan" is just pandering to college students to get them to vote for him. It doesn't appear very work-able to me.

I think the education credits should be there if you are taking enough credit hours. I don't think it should be attached to any other requirements.

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I guess I could buy into "community service" but I would like to know what the students are going to be doing in order to earn $40 an hour. If they had an actual job that paid $40 an hour, they would make a little over $40,000 annually. I think that is a little excessive. How about $10 an hour and let them work 400 hours. There are too many unanswered questions just to throw this out as a tax credit.

$40hour x 40 hours/wk x 52 weeks = $83,200.

Like I mentioned. They *cough* their parents *cough* are already getting a tax credit for their education expenses for doing nothing additional.