A graduate tax (with a lower bound) is the most equitable and progressive way of raising revenue from university graduates. It was recommended by the Dearing Report in 1997 (the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education). Particularly worth reading are chapters 20 and 21, which lay out the argument for a graduate tax and propose mechanisms for implementing its collection.
Of course, this never happened. As the Economic Journal article notes, a graduate tax would take 43 years to reach a steady state (in which contributions via the tax were sufficient to fund HE), according to figures supplied by the CVCP (now Universities UK). I doubt that any government would be willing to commit to a scheme which needed to be left for that long in order to work. Always tweak, tweak, tweak, and mind the next general election. The article also points out that a tax raised from graduates for the funding of HE is of no use unless the revenues from that tax are hypotheticated (ringfenced) purely for HE. Too much of a temptation to spend them on the panic of the day, otherwise...
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Date: 2003-12-04 08:14 am (UTC)A graduate tax (with a lower bound) is the most equitable and progressive way of raising revenue from university graduates. It was recommended by the Dearing Report in 1997 (the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education). Particularly worth reading are chapters 20 and 21, which lay out the argument for a graduate tax and propose mechanisms for implementing its collection.
Of course, this never happened. As the Economic Journal article notes, a graduate tax would take 43 years to reach a steady state (in which contributions via the tax were sufficient to fund HE), according to figures supplied by the CVCP (now Universities UK). I doubt that any government would be willing to commit to a scheme which needed to be left for that long in order to work. Always tweak, tweak, tweak, and mind the next general election. The article also points out that a tax raised from graduates for the funding of HE is of no use unless the revenues from that tax are hypotheticated (ringfenced) purely for HE. Too much of a temptation to spend them on the panic of the day, otherwise...