My Thoughts on State of the Union

Adam Politics

I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts on the SOTU address. Not really from a political standpoint, but more practical and personal finance. This isn’t a political deep dive so if you saw something different, throw it in the comments and let’s discuss.

Making Community College Free

Marginal Revolution hit the nail on the head with this post.

As Reihan Salam of National Review notes, community college tuition is already low. In fact, it’s zero, on average, for lower-income families, after taking financial aid into account. Vox’s Libby Nelson wrote, “Community college tuition for poorer students is often entirely covered by the need-based Pell Grant.”

One potential implication is that by making community college universally free, the government is mostly reducing the cost for higher-income families.

My first thought was also that community college is almost free and certainly is with Pell Grants. If somehow your too middle class for it to be free but to poor to afford it, the student loans to make it through a 2 year community college would be paltry. This seems like it would mainly help middle class people trying to save a buck by spending time at a community college first. I’m not opposed to this plan, it just seems low impact.

Tax Code

I heard a lot of vague platitudes that most people can get behind, but very little specifics and even less likelihood if a positive change. I’m all for simplification and closing loopholes. I’ll believe it when I see it.

If we really wanted change, we’d create 3-4 simple tax brackets, eliminate all deductions and be done with it. To take it a step further you could even have the IRS send a bill (or refund), which for the 99% of people would be all they need as their taxes are based on W2’s only and let them stop wasting money and time with accountants. Let the small percentage of people with more complicated taxes (business / asset owners) submit IRS forms.

Do the same thing at the corporate level and we could eliminate all the insane things both people and companies do to avoid taxes rather than intelligently allocate their capital.

Sick Leave

I always struggle when as a libertarian minded person, I see a proposal that I agree with but largely think isn’t any of the government’s business. Either way, the President has proposed that workers be able to earn up to a week of sick leave. This doesn’t strike me as unreasonable and could help a lot of people.

Does it Matter?

Probably not. Whether you like or dislike any of the proposals, the likelihood of them getting through a Republican congress is about zero. So do what I should have, and go back to doing something productive with your day instead of worrying about politics.