By Amalie Emma Lindquist Davidsen, contributor
11/11/15
Amanda Holst goes to school for free.
The junior management student from Vaxjo, Sweden, said paying higher taxes provides social benefits to the Swedish people, allowing her to attend school without cost.
“There is more socialism in Sweden, and it’s more about updating the community, for example with the health care,” Holst said. “We have higher taxes in Sweden compared to here, so yeah, we go to school for free.”
In America, the International Socialist Organization is emphasizing the benefits of socialism, similar to what Holst said benefits her in Sweden.
The group fights for workers’ economic and political rights, as well as better economic rights for American college students.
Jessica Burroughs, a junior from Charlotte majoring in biology and a member of the Asheville Socialist Organization, said socialism benefits all people, and makes a lot of sense when applied to society.
Burroughs said capitalism leaves millions of people in poverty while a tiny portion of the population enjoys fantastic wealth.
“For most socialists in general, we just think capitalism inherently is like an underlying cause to a lot of things in today’s society,” Burroughs said, “whether it’s about global warming, racism, sexism.”
Holst said capitalism has caused inequality between rich and poor people in America.
“Poor people have to struggle much more,” Holst said. “If more people had the same equal chances for education, more people could get a good job and a good minimum wage.”
Burroughs said more focus should be on how paying higher taxes would benefit society and the majority of its people.
“I think if you distributed the wealth evenly people would have a lot more money to begin with,” Burroughs said.