Taking the tax out of texts

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- Ryan Simpkins is already building conservative credentials

that would make Congressman Chris Cox proud.

Simpkins, a 21-year-old student at OCC, is campaigning to eliminate the

sales tax on textbooks sold to college students in California.

The seed for his crusade was planted last spring when the dean of

students at OCC mentioned the idea offhandedly to a student, who in turn

passed it on to an intrigued Simpkins.

“Students are starving,” Simpkins said. “Anything you can do to help

students and lower the cost of education is positive.”

The Huntington Beach resident spent the summer researching the topic and

brought it to the OCC student leadership retreat in September.

“Institutions like this one are nonprofit and don’t pay taxes, so [they]

shouldn’t really be charging tax to students,” Simpkins said. “I pay more

for textbooks than I do for tuition.”

The average OCC student pays more than $600 each semester for books and

$300 for classes, Simpkins said. Removing the tax would mean a savings of

about $50 per semester. That’s $400 over the course of a four-year

degree, Simpkins said.

“It may not seem like a lot, but I could use $400,” he said.

Students at OCC were quick to take up the cause led by their newly

appointed business manager. But to make this movement viable, they need

to garner support from college and university students throughout the

county and state.

With the help of student leaders -- including Sarah Kelley, the

legislative coordinator for the Associated Students of OCC; and Dan Oase,

who has been dubbed human resources director for the movement -- a union

has been formed among representatives of all four branches of higher

education: private schools, community colleges, and the University of

California and Cal State University systems.

At the core of the campaign is representation from OCC, USC, UCLA, Cal

State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach.

“It is important that we present a unified front,” Simpkins said.

In 1998, a California legislator introduced a bill seeking to eliminate

taxes on college textbooks, but it lacked support and failed.

Similar bills have been introduced in many other states, including

Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. In some

states, such as New York and Pennsylvania, the bill passed; in others, it

was met with opposition or failed as an attempted amendment to another

bill.

To ensure success in California, Simpkins said, the first order of

business is to make sure an impressive unity is in place.

While Simpkins was gathering support, he discovered that the student body

president of Cal State Long Beach, Toby Sexton, was working on a similar

proposal. Now the two share the role of spearheading the legislative

movement.

Each sector of higher education has taken responsibilityfor gaining

support from its branch -- sending letters and making phone calls.

Oase has taken on the responsibility of overseeing contact with all 107

community colleges.

“We are experiencing results at a steady, slow pace,” he said. “Somewhere

in the neighborhood of five or six schools have returned a signed

resolution of support.”

On Friday, leaders from each campus met with Dave Holcomb, the director

of student auxiliary services at OCC; and Michael Bare, manager of the

bookstore at Coastline Community College, to share information and agree

on how to proceed.

“I think it’s a great concept,” Holcomb said. “[It’s] a very effective

way for the state to help education that affects students directly.”

After four months of gathering support, decisions need to be made on

numerous specifics: What is the definition of a textbook? Will this apply

only to campus bookstores? If not, who would it include and how would

that be determined? Where might opposition arise?

If California’s bill had passed in 1998, the state Board of Equalization

found it would have cost the state $34.6 million in revenue annually. An

additional $10 million to $11 million would have been lost in local

taxes, which vary from county to county.

As a result, the majority of opposition is expected to come from counties

that can’t afford to lose any more money, Simpkins said.

In an effort to deflect that argument, the new legislation would ask the

state to make up the difference from its surplus, Simpkins said.

“This $36 million of a $65-billion budget is just a drop in the bucket,”

he said.

By March, Simpkins said, the group will lobby legislators and look for a

sponsor for the bill.

Organizers plan to sell it to Republicans as cutting taxes and to

Democrats as cutting the cost of education.

“We want to make it a bipartisan movement,” Simpkins said.

It is an entirely student-run movement that has OCC’s support.

“I encourage their foray into the political world,” university President

Margaret Gratton said. “They are following protocol and process. They

will give it their best shot, and it will take on a life of its own.”