ASMSU’s textbook tax elimination proposition could be a small benefit to college students, but the organization should not make it its top priority.
For the past four years, ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, has been pushing for an elimination of sales tax on college textbooks in the state. A proposal made by the organization during the 1998-99 academic year was passed by the state House, but failed to gain approval in the state Senate. Two other bills since then have been on the Legislature’s agenda, but are not likely to ever see a vote.
Recently, the organization distributed 1,500 lobbying postcards around campus, and so far they have received 1,150 back from students who support the tax cut. ASMSU plans to send the cards to state Rep. Michael Koall, R-White Lake, who plans to introduce the bill during the next legislative session in January.
The organization should be commended for continuing to pursue the issue during the past four years. Textbooks are a required purchase for college, and because room, board and tuition costs are not taxed, it only makes sense that textbooks would be tax-exempt as well.
The textbook tax cut would be consistent with other states. Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey, Arizona and New York already give students a break on textbook taxes.
Students already are at a disadvantage when it comes to textbooks. Bookstores are able to overprice because they know students have to buy them, and then make an enormous profit when they buy back books for a minuscule amount and then jack up the price when they resell them.
Furthermore, students often end up buying books that they barely crack open or never use at all, not because of laziness, but because some books listed on a class syllabus are never used.
But while college students need any financial relief they can get, the elimination of the textbook tax will not save each individual student a large amount of money. Students will save $6 for every $100 they spend. The savings would probably add up to less than a couple hundred dollars throughout their college career.
Students spend thousands of dollars to attend the university, and so while having a few extra dollars to spend at their leisure might be nice, a few dollars is not likely to be the difference between a student affording college or not.
ASMSU has been working hard this semester, working to put Student Instructional Rating System - commonly known as SIRS - forms online and improving MSU’s riot policy. Instead of focusing on the textbook tax, the organization should continue to work for initiatives that will have a major impact on student’s lives.
Book swapping, for example, has the potential to save students a considerable amount of money on their textbooks. By eliminating the middleman, students selling their books can sell them for more than the bookstores would give them, and students buying will still pay less than they would for a used book at a bookstore.
ASMSU should push for the textbook tax cut, but should not forget to focus on policies that will have a major impact on the lives and pocketbooks of students.
