Sunday, January 17, 2010

Cost of college textbooks might fall with new legislation - Santa Cruz Sentinel


Cost of college textbooks might fall with new legislation - Santa Cruz Sentinel:

"Matt Palm, 21, spends between $300 and $400 on textbooks per quarter as a history major at UC Santa Cruz. Caitlin Grams, 19, has spent up to $500 in a quarter at UCSC for politics and philosophy texts.

Relief may be in sight for higher education students like Palm and Grams who routinely spend thousands on textbooks in a year.

A bill working its way through the state Assembly would couple a reduction in sales tax for textbooks and school supplies sold at college bookstores with the closing of a tax loophole for companies with offshore addresses that do business in California. If passed, said bill author Assemblyman Marty Block, D-San Diego, the law would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, saving students $120 million each year in sales taxes."