G.I’s Idiot’s Guide to Writing Bad Legislation

by David Safier

Idiot's Guides have been big over the past few years. Goldwater Institute has created one for Republican legislators, a list it calls 100 Ideas for 100 Days: Budget Solutions and Ideas for State Elected Officials.

To be fair, nowhere does G.I. say Dems can't use it as well, but . . . (throw in your own punch line here). Also to be fair, not every idea is awful, though all the ones I've included below are pretty bad. R legislators had best be careful as they pick and choose. If they don't watch out, they're in danger of creating a few bits of decent legislation.

The list is actually 152 ideas long. Once G.I. started, it couldn't stop at 100. Here's a sampling.

"[Convert] state employee health insurance benefits to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and high-deductible insurance plans."

"[Lower] the corporate income tax rate to the same rate as the individual income tax, 4.54 percent or lower."

"Eliminate the capital gains portion of the state's income tax."

*"Create a personal use tax credit to allow parents to deduct the cost of private school tuition on their taxes."

*"Modify funding for early education into direct education grants for families to use at a preschool of their choice or to offset the cost of homeschooling."

*"Create a school-choice option for children in failing schools."

*"Create a personal-use tax credit to allow parents to deduct the cost of private school tuition on their taxes."

*"Implement savings accounts that offer the same tax incentives for K–12 education savings that are currently available for higher education."

*"Relieve overcrowding and give every Arizona child an equal opportunity in education by creating a universal system of parental choice that includes private options."

"Align tuition at Arizona universities more closely with the actual cost of education."

I stopped reading at 55, the end of the education section. I count 6 ideas, which I starred, advocating vouchers in one form or another. Wanna bet G.I. thinks vouchers are the solution to most of what ails education in the U.S.?