Monday, January 12, 2009

Tax Cuts for teachers

In the NYTimes today Thomas Friedman has an op-ed piece about what HE would do to stimulate the economy and not leave future generations with a mess.

This struck a cord with me because one of his "plans" is to eliminate federal income tax for teachers:

"One of the smartest stimulus moves we could make would be to eliminate federal income taxes on all public schoolteachers so more talented people would choose these careers. I’d also double the salaries of all highly qualified math and science teachers..."

He makes the point that many teachers cannot afford to purchase a home near where they teach. I know that for many of the teachers in my school, if they were not living in a two-income household, they would not be able to afford to purchase a home close to our school - myself included.

I know this is his own opinion, but in times like these it gives me hope that some people appreciate what us teachers do (even if we are not paid for it!)

On a happier note, Bono has a guest column up in the NYTimes today also - there is also an audio file of him reading the article - I love me some Bono!

1 comment:

teacherninja said...

Thanks for blogging on this--I noticed it this weekend, but haven't had time to comment. Certainly an interesting thought, and way better than many of the pay-for-performance ideas.