From their inception, California’s state colleges and universities were
free or nearly free for in-state students, but since the 1970s, the
state systems have been ratcheting up tuition and originating loans that
impose crippling debt on students, leading to delayed fertility, late
home-ownership, reduced retirement savings, and dampening
entrepreneurial risk-taking.
College for All California is
a ballot initiative modeled on Bernie Sanders’ proposal for free
nationwide tuition; it would impose an inheritance tax (12-22%) on the
0.2% of Californians with a net worth of more than $3.5m ($7m for
couples), raising about $4b/year to reduce or eliminate tuition for
state colleges and universities.
California had a similar inheritance tax until 2005, when the GW Bush
administration killed inheritance taxes on the very wealthiest Americans
and the state (which had piggybacked on the federal inheritance tax
system) never set up its own made-in-California collection system. This
inaction has cost the state an estimated $16b in total.
4,000 Californians would be subject to the tax, and the 2.6 million students in the California systems would benefit from it.
The initiative will be on the 2018 midterm ballot if 585,407 sign the petition to the state attorney general. Signature-gathering events are being held across California; you can volunteer to help with them, and donate to the cause.
