Our View-Taxing state’s big oil could save higher education

Discussing oil these days is as volatile a subject as discussing abortion. We are at war over the commodity, and increasing concerns about the irreparable pollution created by oil use have forced most of us to reconsider our dependency to it.

Let’s not forget the skyrocketing increases in gasoline prices over the last several years, which hit California motorists especially hard because we can barely cross the street without the assistance of an automobile.

California is the third-largest oil producing state in the country. We don’t get taxed on oil extraction, unlike many states such as Texas, which tax as much as 12 percent and use the money for endowments.

Why not tax our rich oil production and allocate those funds to the California State University system?

That is exactly what Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico has proposed to do. In partnership with the California Faculty Association, Torrico introduced Assembly Bill 656 last week, which according to the California Chronicle would generate funding for all three segments of public higher education in California by enacting a new tax on oil and natural gas “severed” from California land or water.

The fallout from our state’s horrible economic situation has been especially brutal on the CSU system. The California Chronicle reports that since 2002, the CSU budget has been cut by nearly $800 million, resulting in faculty and staff layoffs, cuts to course sections and 10,000 eligible students being denied access to a college education.

Having big oil companies taxed for their extraction of oil in California could be a bold and inventive solution to our state’s education crisis, especially in this recession. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has broken too many promises regarding education reform; it is time for others to step up and find creative solutions to these challenges.

“My bill will bring California in line with more than 20 other oil-extracting states,” Torrico said in a press release last week. “When other states are charging over 12 percent from multi-billion dollar oil companies, we should be doing more to receive funds for our natural resources.”

The old saying “turning lemons into lemonade” is especially appropriate for this situation. Since we are still dependent on oil — hopefully not for too much longer — it is a proactive measure to tax our state’s production of it so we can stop the unnecessary hacking of the most important institution in our country’s development; higher education.

In an essay prepared for the CFA titled “California: At the Edge of a Cliff,” higher education policy analyst Tom Mortenson reported that “The state’s economic prosperity, social harmony and political vitality are all dependent on how well educated its adult workforce is now and will be in the future.”

We all will suffer if our state does not continue to produce educated people, and we must pitch in to assure that our schools are properly funded.

In the words of old Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” We may as well get some bang for our buck while we are still above ground.