Earlier today on kos there was a discussion about some rich people doing what ever they can to avoid paying too much tax. Well there is an anonymous group of benefactors from Kalamazoo that has come up with a tax loop-hole I can get behind. This group is offering to pay 65%-100% of the tuition and fees of every single public school child in the city starting with the class of 2006 for no less the 13 years!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/...
Yippee and flip
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Kalamazoo, and not just because it's fun to say. This is a real middle class, mixed race American city with hard weather and a great community of 77,000 citizens. They have a really good arts community, a business community that has pride in the town, and a healthy contingency of alternative lifestyle types. It is also a big college town. The majority votes democratic; this makes them a blue island in a sea of red in this part of the state.
Unfortunately, several years ago the company Upjohn left Kalamazoo for the greener pastures of New Jersey. This really hurt the town as Upjohn was the biggest employer there.
There are 500 kids that graduate every year from the 2 Kalamazoo high schools. As of last year 85% of these graduates went off to college. What isn't stated in the article is that there is a large poor population in Kalamazoo. The drop out rate is very high for many of these kids. This will give a new meaning to the word hope for a whole generation of Kids that are living in one of the hardest hit towns in the hardest hit state in the US. The ripple effect for not only Kalamazoo, but the whole state is going to be tremendous to say the least.
Wouldn't it be great if there were a couple more dozen billionaires out there that would follow this lead? How about insurance for a hard hit county? Just an idea.