Policy Paper Assignments: Criteria

Posted: October 17th, 2013

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Policy Paper Assignments: Criteria

The criterion involves factors that determine if a particular government policy has certain strengths and weaknesses. An example of criteria that can be used to determine the strength or weakness of the education tax policy in Michigan is cost. The tax collected from students is allocated by the government to pay for the students extra tuition services (Amante 2011). This lightens the financial burden of the sponsors who are responsible for paying education fees because the cost is minimized and therefore the policy has strength in this type of criteria.

The new policy for the year 2011 in the United States that includes the tax credit and minimization also falls under the cost criteria. For example, in tax reduction, the state cut the student tax expenses by four thousand dollars in order for the students to afford their tuition fee. This policy reveals a great strength because it cuts the cost of expenses that an individual pays for education (Amante 2011). Another example of criteria is on the income. The tax education policy explains that the revenue derived from collecting tax is intended for financially assisting students who support themselves by working in low salary jobs.

This means that once the students have been provided for their education expenses, they are able to use the income they earn efficiently or save for future purposes. The policy therefore has strength in terms of income because it benefits the students who earn low income. In addition, students who have achieved their college education but have not yet accomplished a bachelors’ degree are supported by the tax revenue and therefore it acts as a supply of their income (Michigan College 2011). The weakness of the tax policy on education can be seen through the criteria of economic analysis. For example, the tax deductions are intended for benefiting students from a wealthy class of families (Michigan College 2011).

Tax policy in New Zealand has a weakness when looking at the criteria of functionality. The amount of tax collected is limited to only catering for education expenses at a high level of learning including college and university education. However, this is a limitation because it only focuses on paying for education at the tertiary level and neglects other poor children who are not able to afford education at elementary and high school levels (Danny De Hek 2011).

The tertiary level of education is highly depended on in New Zealand because the government intends to provide a prosperous future of the best-educated workforce. This is done to ensure that the New Zealand community can rely on the great impact that is left by this educated workforce (Shearer 2011). The purpose of the tax policy on tertiary education in New Zealand is to make high levels of education accessible to many in New Zealand. Education accessibility as discussed above can be another criterion used in identifying the strength of the education tax policy in New Zealand (Shearer 2011).

The tax policy for New Zealand on salaries and employees has its strong points on the criteria of accuracy. For example, the policy involves a system known as a Personal Tax Summary that stores employee wage data and uses it to analyze the tax amount that is being paid by the employees (Danny De Hek 2011). The worker is also able to view the amount of tax he owes to the state and other details including the deadline for paying the amount. The tax summary system is computerized and therefore it gives accurate tax information and avoids errors or inconsistencies in tax records.

Reference

Amante, M., “Parents in the Central Michigan Lifestyle”, Retrieved on 20 October 2011 from: http://www.cm-life.com/2011/01/11/new-tax-laws-include-credits-for-students-parents. 2011.

Danny De Hek. ”Government: Salary and Wage Earners” New Zealand Immigration Packs.2005 New Zealand Information Network. November 9, 2011 from

http://www.nz-immigration.co.nz/government/income-tax.html

David Shearer “Strong Tertiary Education Vital for our own Future” Own Our Future Labor. November 9 2011 from

http://www.ownourfuture.co.nz/tertiary-education

Michigan College “Tuition and Fees Credit,” Retrieved on 20 October 2011 from http://www.macomb.edu/Current+Students/Student+Services +Information.htm, 2010