Religion & schools: a moral dilemma

[Zap]

Originally Posted by John Scott

No, they pay once for education. My parents paid for my education, twice. Once to the public education system in the form of taxes, and in my tuition. They should not be penalized for choosing to send me to superior schools. (The schools I went to were on average two grades above their public counterparts.)

That is where our opinions differ.

I would say that your parents weren't penalized because the public education system was open and available to you the whole time you were attending the private school that your parents decided to send you to.
If your parents made a choice to spend the extra money on a better education for you, then they should have to pay for that choice because it was beyond the scope of what the public vote and public funds were able to provide you at the time. It may not be the ideal situation, but imagine what would have happened to your tax bill if that kind of education was mandated by and paid for by the state. Your parents were abviously able to afford it, as they paid for two educations for you, but not all families can afford it, so a "more publicly acceptable" alternative would have to suffice for them.

We don't have religious police. My point there was that the police provide a certain level of service for me for free, or, more accurately, for the tax money I pay each year. If I want services that go above and beyond those provided by the state, I have to pay for them out of my own pocket. If I want a police officer to escort me to the mall while I buy a $10,000 TV, I have to hire an off duty police officer at my own expense, even though the on duty officers are still there, ready and willing to protect me if someone should decide to take it from me. If I make the choice to hire them, I shouldn't be expecting a tax credit because I'm effectively paying for police protection twice. The same should go for schools or any other publicly funded service.
It's for the same reasons that I would buy bottled water, even though I pay for water to my home in the plumbing system, or contribute to my retirement fund, even though I'm getting a federal pension. These are choices I make on my own because I have decided on my own that what I'm getting from the government isn't enough to suit my needs.

[John Scott]

If I want a police officer to escort me to the mall while I buy a $10,000 TV, I have to hire an off duty police officer at my own expense, even though the on duty officers are still there, ready and willing to protect me if someone should decide to take it from me. If I make the choice to hire them, I shouldn't be expecting a tax credit because I'm effectively paying for police protection twice.

That's not really an accurate metaphor. You are paying for a service the public police do not pay for. We, those of us who send our children to private schools, do not ask for anything we are not paying for in the form of taxes. I'm not asking for after-school classes. I'm saying you have no right to take my money for the purpose of educating my children, because, obviously, I'm paying for their education. If you insist on taking my money, then I'll insist on seeing receipts for your educating my children. If you cannot produce said receipts, then I'll say that you're in the wrong.

But then, most taxes are in the wrong. I never said that I wanted to fund abortions, but I do. I never said I wanted to fund the huge military complex, but I do. I never said I wanted to fund a justice system that incarcerates 1 in 37 American adults, but I do. If we had to vote on each and every tax spend, I think we'd all have a hell of a better lifestyle.

[Zap]

Originally Posted by John Scott

But then, most taxes are in the wrong. I never said that I wanted to fund abortions, but I do. I never said I wanted to fund the huge military complex, but I do. I never said I wanted to fund a justice system that incarcerates 1 in 37 American adults, but I do. If we had to vote on each and every tax spend, I think we'd all have a hell of a better lifestyle.

I couldn't agree with you more on this.
In 1917, Canada introduced the "Income War Tax Act" which, among other things, introduced a "temporary" income tax on the people of Canada. The tax was to pay for the increasing costs of WWI.
That war was paid in full, long before I was ever born. I'm still paying income tax.

Here in Canada, we tend to get taxed more than most in the world. We certainly know what it means to be overtaxed. Until recently, our Tax Freedom Day was in July!

[elisee]

I studied in a exclusive catholic school, and I don't have anything to complain about the quality of education they offered.