April
23 ,
2004
Front-Page
News
Code
Breaker John O. Fox, visiting associate professor of complex organizations,
outlined the failings of the federal income tax code in commentaries
in the Washington Post and the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, and
in interviews with Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio
member station WFCR, and other media outlets. In "For Singles,
April Really Is the Cruellest Month" in the April 11 Washington
Post, Fox addressed what he sees as the system's unfairness
to single taxpayers: "You've all heard about the tax
system's so-called marriage penalty, which discourages a
couple with good incomes from marrying because their combined income
taxes would be greater than if they remained single. Congress heard
so much about it that, through legislation in 2001 and 2003, it
addressed that problem for most couples by increasing their standard
deduction and broadening their tax brackets. But a great injustice
remains in our tax system: the 'singles penalty.' The
annual income tax deadline arrives this week, and there's
no getting around it--most of us who are married and also
have young kids are going to fare a lot better than most of those
who haven't tied the knot or had any children." In "Don't
Know Jack about Taxes" in the April 9 Journal-Constitution,
Fox outlined a number of examples of "inequities, or sheer
stupidity," enshrined in the code. In "Memo to Candidates:
Let's Talk Taxes" by Christian
Science Monitor staff
writer Stacy A. Teicher, Fox offered a number of tax-policy questions
that voters should pose to candidates for elective office. "'We're
at a crucial time in our history,' Fox said. 'These
are great moral dilemmas which candidates simply aren't asking
us to address.... Congress and presidents have refused to make
transparent the way the tax laws work.' He doesn't
really expect these issues to be solved, or even fully discussed,
in one campaign cycle. But he hopes more people will see the link
between good citizenship and being informed about tax policies. 'Voters
can understand this stuff,' he said. 'It's not
Greek.'"
Transatlantique The March issue of the French edition of Cosmopolitan magazine has a multipage feature on Mount Holyoke. Titled "A
School for Women and Women Only," the piece was reported
and photographed by brothers Sylvain and Richard Pak, who spent
a number of days here last year during commencement weekend speaking
to many members of the MHC community and even taking in a party
or two. The article details the history of the College and its
traditions--like the Laurel Parade--and explores the
continuing relevance of single-sex institutions.
Can't Get No SATisfaction A recent Cox News feature details
the expense that American families, especially those with financial
means, are shouldering to try to improve their children's
SAT scores. That has spawned an ever-growing test-prep industry.
Writer Douglas Kalajian noted, "As competition grows, so
does the industry to prep kids for the SAT. The biggest player
in the test prep game, Kaplan Inc., took in $838 million last
year, about a quarter of that selling SAT materials and tutoring.
Kaplan is owned by The Washington Post Co., but it makes more
money than the Washington Post does. The business Stanley Kaplan
started out of his Brooklyn home in the 1940s is now a conglomerate
that sells 14-session SAT prep courses for $799 and an online
course for $349. The Princeton Review, which says its SAT prep
business is bigger than Kaplan's, has three online options:
with an instructor, $699; on your own, $399; or the three-hour "quick
review" for $99." Also noted in the feature are those
schools that have de-emphasized the test: "Despite the
SAT's rising importance, FairTest says more universities
are becoming disenchanted with it. The group's Web site
(www.fairtest.org) lists more than 700 schools--about a
third of the four-year institutions in the U.S.--that consider
applicants who don't submit scores from standardized tests
like the SAT and its alternative, the ACT. Many are small schools,
but the list includes some highly selective colleges such as
Bowdoin and Mount Holyoke, as well as public universities in
Texas and Nebraska."
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