Posted on 09/07/2013 9:40:39 AM PDT by JoeProBono
FORKS TOWNSHIP, Easton Pa., - A Pennsylvania man who homeschools his children said he paid his $7,143 school tax in $1 bills to protest funding public education.
Rob Fernandes videotaped himself delivering the 7,143 $1 bills, along with 54 cents change, to the Forks Township municipal building and explaining his reasoning to tax collector Anne Bennett-Morse, Philly.com reported Friday.
"I'm not doing this to make anybody's life more difficult," Fernandes can be seen telling Bennett-Morse in the video.
Fernandes said he sees the money taken for school taxes as "stolen."
"We homeschool our kids, so we don't even use the public school system, yet I'm being forced to pay all this money into a public school system that I don't use, don't want, don't need. And I don't think that's really either fair, just or even ethical," he said.
"It would be the equivalent if McDonald's were to force vegetarians to pay for their cheeseburgers," he said.
"I'm a big proponent of education," he said, adding that "education can be provided more efficiently in a free market."
That seems like a lot of a school tax. Is this many years worth?
But I don’t live in Pennsylvania.
Rob Fernandes is absolutely right. Forcing property owners to pay for government schools should be stopped. It is an unjust practice. Property taxes by default means one never really owns their property. It’s time to come up with a new system to fund local governments.
Cool. I’m practically right up the road from him.
Dumb move.
More people have to homeschool first before taxing can be addressed.
More people have to homeschool. More people have to homeschool. More people have to homeschool.
He should just pay the tax and put his efforts into getting other people to homeschool.
The ONLY attention homeschoolers should cause at this point is how GREAT their CHILDREN do and how it is not nearly as difficult as folks are led to believe.
My wife and I are beyond child rearing age, have no children, and won’t ever have children. How much of my income are the people in my area entitled to for educating their children? I am not the one that had them, I will gain no benefit from them, they are only a financial burden to me with no return. Much of taxation is like this.
Taxation is an evil redistribution of wealth. And REPUBLICANS often don’t see themselves as getting WELFARE, but you are...You are getting many people’s money to raise your children, to subsidize your life.
Don’t give me that “common good” or “community good” BS either, I am responsible for MY actions and MY behavior. You should be responsible for yours. If you hate OBAMACARE you should hate public school taxes to educate the children of middle class and wealthy families.
Democrats think that they deserve my hard earned income, so do Republicans apparently.
You choose where to live, and you know the rules/laws governing taxation. My wife and I sought out a place to live where taxes were low and found a great little borough that has no schools. Ergo, there is no school tax. The one exception is that there are some kids in the borough that are shipped off to a local township for schooling. Our borough pays only the per child cost. While it would have been better if the parents paid for their own kids, at least our borough doesn't have to charge thousands of dollars to cover the cost.
ps - total property taxes are around $2500, and I'm in NJ.
Many years ago you could not tax a man’s property nor his labor.
So I am responsible for other people? Good to know. You don’t have a problem with taxation then, and it is legit?
I have to move where people are ethical and don’t steal my income? Or move where there are no children?
You didn’t address my question. You danced around it quite well, but really, that is very democrat of you.
How much of my income are the people in my area entitled to for educating their children?
I am not concerned with paying taxes to send other people's children to school. We are blessed to live in a country where everyone is required to go to school, where a huge majority of the students learn to read, and as a result they have an opportunity to succeed. I am so thankful I do not live in a country where the poor are illiterate and have no chance of changing their circumstances.
Even though our schools need improvement, and a free market education system would be wonderful for the purpose of making these improvements, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We live in an amazing country, and part of what makes it amazing is that every child has the opportunity to be educated. Let's focus on what will improve our schools, not complain because we have to pay taxes on something we do not use.
That seems like a lot of a school tax. Is this many years worth?
But I don’t live in Pennsylvania.
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That depends on the value of the property of course, but its probably more than a years worth. A $7100 property tax bill would be owed on a property worth about $400k, I don’t think in a crappy town like Easton there would be many properties with that kind of value
School taxes in PA can be ridiculous, and can vary dramatically from community to community.
I’ve never had the police or fire departments out to my house, should I get my taxes back? However the Dr who put the 4 stents in my heart did go to a public school so....
I agree with you 100%! Living in Anne Arundel County in Maryland, my wife and I pay $5000 a year in property tax. We have no children, but if we did they would NOT go to public school! A family with six little kids in the apartments down the road pays nothing, yet reaps the benefits. Why is there not an exemption for those with no kids in the system?
I would have given it to them in loose bills.
Another reason for the separation of School and State. BEEP!
1) Government schooling is a First Amendment and freedom of conscience abomination. Why?
Answer: Because it is **impossible** to have a religiously, culturally, and politically neutral education. Such a state of neutrality can not be found in the mind of any sentient human and absolutely is impossible in any school. When government runs schools and **FORCES** children to attend and taxpayers to pay for it, government is imposing a NON-neutral religious, political, and cultural worldview on captive children and forcing taxpayers to pay for it!
2) You are absolutely correct. No one in this nation actually **owns** property. We lease it from the government. That is what property taxes are: RENT TO THE GOVERNMENT LANDLORD!
Pennsylvania also has a half percent local school tax collected by private companies. Let me tell you they are like wolves!
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