Income tax proposal a waste

Why is the Olympia City Council wasting time and resources on proposals for a city income tax to provide college education scholarships to Olympia students? The onus for financing secondary education falls to the student pursuing post-high school education.

The ‘entitlement’ mindset promulgated by Marco Rossi and the leftist Opportunity for Olympia group is troubling. One of their stated goals is ‘investment in our community.’ Apart from government and medical jobs, what booming Olympia industry drives great demand for secondary education? If Olympia adopts such a tax, who’s to say the educated workforce funded by this money would stay in Olympia, or Washington state for that matter?

No individual in this country is ‘entitled’ a college education at someone else’s expense. To assume the right to redistribute another’s income for personal goal achievement is larcenous. The notion that the city of Olympia has a responsibility to guarantee all its students one-year scholarships is a pernicious machination.

Olympia would be better served if the City Council would direct its efforts to matters under city purview of responsibility. Let the state legislature deal with education issues.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 2:04 PM with the headline "Income tax proposal a waste."