Tax-free books lofty goal for IUSA

Every politician makes campaign promises to get elected and some wind up being enacted, but for the most part, a lot never make it past the beginning stages. This unfortunately seems to be the case with the IU Student Association. For the third consecutive year, IUSA is promising to tax-free textbooks.\nDuring the election season this past winter, several IUSA tickets made this issue a campaign promise and pledged to enact it in the near future.\nBut this is not a new concept. Of course everyone would be ecstatic about the possibility of tax- free textbooks. But before we start counting our extra money, we have to ask ourselves: Is this ever going to become a reality?\nIn 1999, the Willke-LaBuda-Hart-Brunelle ticket named tax exemptions on textbooks as a major campaign issue. Although it was not named on their platform during the election cycle, the Orensten-Preamble-Abrams-Schroder ticket lobbied for the elimination of taxes on textbooks in 1998. During their term, the Budgetary Affairs Committee, chaired by then-senior Ron Watson, began to solicit student feedback and prepare positions to bring to the state legislature.\nSo, for the past three years, IUSA has been spending many hours on this proposal, yet no substantial progress can be observed.\nThe current administration, "Platinum," has left this effort in the hands of the Legislative Relations committee, chaired by junior Benjamin Piper. In an Oct. 12, IDS article, Piper said he has been collecting signatures for more than three weeks and had gathered more than 2,000. After the signatures are collected, Piper said he will search for a "representative in the legislature who supports the cause to author a bill making all college textbook purchases tax-exempt for students." He said he was in the process of talking with legislators but would not name specific lawmakers.\nThe original goal for signatures was set at 10,000 by IUSA. But senior and IUSA president Meredith Suffron said IUSA was going to have a difficult time reaching that goal. But the signature drive is also now going to be combined with students at Purdue, Ball State and Indiana State.\nThis combined effort will certainly give the cause more credibility, but again, we have to ask ourselves, is it worth the effort? Or should our student government be devoting themselves to more pressing campus issues and concerns?\nFor more than three years, this has been a major campaign promise and one that Suffron now calls "hallmark" for this year's IUSA executives.\nBut no progress has been made in the past so why should we believe this year will be any different?\nIt won't be.