Question

City of Providence officials considered a number of ideas to mitigate the financial pressures facing the city, including reducing the education budget and instituting an income tax for the City of Providence. Comment on these ideas.

Answer 1

Facts of the Case-

City of Providence officials considering in reducing the education budget and instituting an income tax for the City of Providence to mitigate the financial pressures facing the city.

Reduction in the Education Budget-

The Officials are of the view that the reduction in the education budget may mitigate there financials issues. However, likewise the coin has two sides of it, there are both disadvantages and advantages in doing so.

Let us discuss in Brief-   .

Advantages

Teachers and the Educational Institutes will come out with more innovative, cost effective and environmental methods of teaching like-

1. Digitalizing instead of paper work where ever not necessary there by reducing deforestation
2. They start inculcating methods which save electricity and other resources like fuel in transportation by following efficient route maps and Geo tracking for instance
3. The teachers make use of the limited resources efficiently in a sustainable manner

Disadvantages

1. There may be poor people who come to study for the sake of programs like mid day meals, they may not show interest in coming to schools if the same is not running
2. Many teachers may be fired to curtail expenses making them unemployed
3. There is a threat for the quality in education if the people in the education system may come up with fastrack methods of teaching where the children are thought only in exam point of view without any practical knowledge to run more batches
4. Students who are reading on scholarships may get affected

Instituiting Income tax-

By insituiting of income tax the officials will be able to make good amount of revenue, however care should be taken to not let people evade the taxes

Conclusion-

It is not advisable to cut the educatinal budget in the first instance, although it may effect the current suituation educating the children will show a glorious future to the city in making increasing returns to the investment made now

Also, it is advisable to bring indirect taxes into force as the chances of tax evasion are remote in this case