Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ron Paul wrote to his colleagues in Congress on Tuesday, promoting the “Make College Affordable Act” (HR 2750) of which he was an original cosponsor last year. The legislation would allow working families to deduct college-related expenses from their income taxes every year.

“One of my top goals this Congress is to reduce the tax burden on parents who are trying to send their children to college,” Paul said. “Every child should have the opportunity to go to college, but unless we act soon, that will not be a reality for many working families in my district and in many other communities around the country. The ‘Make College Affordable Act’ will reduce the burden of higher-education costs that continue to go up at an alarming rate.”

The “Make College Affordable Act” was originally sponsored by Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., of Tennessee and currently has 12 cosponsors. Paul is the lead Republican cosponsor of the Act. Once passed, it will amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow families to deduct up to $20,000 in higher-education expenses every year.

Paul said, “The ‘Make College Affordable Act’ is the way to correct a tax system that punishes families for being thrifty and planning for future educational costs. Many working families plan and save well in advance of their children attending college. But when increased taxation erodes these families’ savings, many are forced to go into debt to pay for a child’s education, or the child simply does not go to college at all. It is a crime to have a tax system that forces people to choose between educating their children and paying their government.”

The “Make College Affordable Act” coupled with Paul’s own “Family Education Freedom Act” (HR 935) are aimed at bringing sweeping changes to the tax code and allowing parents the maximum amount of freedom in determining how to educate their children from kindergarten through college. The “Family Education Freedom Act”; will allow parents a $3,000 per year tax credit for each child’s elementary and secondary education-related expenses. The credit applies to all parents regardless of whether their children are in public, private, or parochial school or are home schooled.

Paul said, “I am working to give control of the education dollar back to parents. Legislation like my ‘Family Education Freedom Act’ and Congressman Ford’s ‘Make College Affordable Act’ will take control out of the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats, and it will empower parents and teachers to take charge of their children’s education. I am proud to take a leading role on these important issues and in working to advance legislation which has broad bi-partisan support.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 9th, 2000 at 3:14 am and is filed under Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.