Title

The High School Attainment Credit: A Tax Credit Encouraging Students to Graduate from High School

Abstract

High school dropouts are a serious problem facing America today. High school dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, earn less money when employed, place a larger burden on the government by requiring public assistance (welfare), and are more likely to be prone to a life of crime and violence than high school completers. While government at all levels continues to focus on schools and teachers in solving the dropout problem, this paper shows how parents are where the focus should lie. This paper proposes a revolutionary tax credit, the High School Attainment Credit (“HSAC”), which would cost-effectively eradicate the high school dropout problem by encouraging parents to motivate their children to learn. HSAC would provide parents of children that graduate from high school with $10,000 per graduate. The dissertation explains not only how HSAC can influence parents, but also how it can be cost-effective for the federal government.

Disciplines

Education Law | Law | Law and Psychology | Law and Society | Public Law and Legal Theory | Social Welfare Law | Taxation-Federal | Tax Law

Date of this Version

April 2005