Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1932-12-15
Opinions Voiced BY Vernon Riegel

Opinions Voiced BY Vernon Riegel
4 The property owner in Ohio has
| unjustly borne the lions share OIL
the burden of school support in
Ohio. Now the system has broken
down under the load and the injus.
tice is finally apparent, Vernon
Riegel, former state director of ed
ucation. said in his talk wednesday
night of last week, here in the high
school auditorium.
'.Ninety-six percent Of the cost of
our schools is provided by local tax
alton. The state pays four per-
cent" Riegel pointed out. ''The
property owner has provided the
money not only for the education of
his children, but for the education
of the children Of other groups,
prevented from paying their share
by our antiquated tax laws"
Relief for the property tax payer
was proposed by Riegel as part Of a
plan to provide more stable support
for the public schools of the state.
A greater percentage Of state sup
port for schools from some form Of
indirect taxation, such as an income
or sales tax, will meet the double
need, he declared. He suggested,
as another possibility, leaving pub
lie utilities taxes in the general
state fund, instead of returning
them to local districts, since this
service is of SO general a nature.
"Since the beginnings of it's his
tory, Ohio has believed in educa-
tion," Riegel said ''This interest
has increased down through the
years until today there is no issue
in which the great masses of the
people Of the state are SO .univer-
sally and profoundly interested as
they are in maintaining our present
educational standards and school
facilities. Some objectors say Ohio
schools are costing too much. This
criticism is not supported by the
evidence. When we take into con-
sideration the fact that Ohio ranks
seventh among the forty-eight states
and that the cost is below the av-
erage, we must come to the con-
clusion that we have invested our
money economically. Only six states
surpass us with better school sys-
TENS. while twenty-five states are
paying more for education than we
are"
Riegel assured his audience that
there is no proposal abroad to in
crease school costs. ''It is not our
purpose to take from the people
more money in the form of taxes in
the aggregate than has been needed
to maintain the efficiency of the
schools in the past" he said
'It is evident, however, that there
must be compensation from other
sources of revenue for the loss oc-
casioned by property tax reduction.
The state liability for education
should be increased The state has
declared by constitutional mandate
that adequate schools shall be main.
tanned To carry this out state
fund for education should be Great
ed, of dimensions commensurate.
with the need and with that pro-
vided by other states with which
Ohio is compared, Michigan, New
York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
California.
There are three things that can
be taxed, Riegel asserted: What a
man earns, what he spends and
what he saves. At the present time
almost the whole load has been car
ried by what the savers have invest |
ed in property.
"All indirect taxes are paid with |
out the grief connected with direct !
taxation. This is emphasized very
clearly by the fact that the people
of Ohio pay more in federal taxes
than they pay for education More |
of their money goes to the support !
Of the federal government than goes !,
to the education of their children |
Yet we hear no particular complaint !,
as to the federal taxes, outside of |
checks"
Teachers are willing to assume an :
income tax to help carry the load,
Riegel asserted, adding that this
would be good thing for the
teaching profession, since teachers
would not be looked on purely as
tax spenders and job holders.
Conclusive evidence of what a
sales tax will do is the gasoline
tax" Riegel said. Prices of COM
fiuctuate so much that peo-
pie do not stop to think whether
the rise in an article is due to tax or
market fuctuation. Gasoline is
cheaper today with the tax on than
1t was without the tax. A sales tax
Is an easily paid tax. 1t is levied di-
rectly and collected directly"
WEATHER.!
With the mercury hitting seven
Wednesday morning, Dec IA, and
he ground all covered with snow,