Excise Tax To Pay for School Technology Advocated

By Peter West

To buy all the computers, all the software, and all the related equipment envisioned in technology plans floating around state education departments would cost $31.5 billion, according to an analysis by the Milken Family Foundation.

The best and most politically feasible way to pay for improvements that would bring the nation's schools into the information age would be a national tax on sales of computer hardware and software, the study's author argues.

Lewis Solomon, the president of the Milken Institute for Job & Capital Formation, a division of the foundation, announced the survey results and his plan for the national tax earlier this month. Such a tax, along with local matching funds and contributions from business, would give students and teachers the technology they need to compete in...