Letters To The Editor
WASHINGTON STATE
Government too costly in Washington
Initiative 695 is a wonderful opportunity to reinvent government in the state of Washington.
Taxpayers have been overburdened with high taxes to support an ever-growing and ineffective style of government. The duplication of positions and layering of government in this state is on the edge of ridiculous.
Government at all levels can be reinvented to create a state where taxpayers have control over their own destiny. Not where taxing authorities decide to grant 10-15 percent raises for their employees when the economy and private sector are held to 1.6-2.2 percent. Government is quickly pricing itself out of reach and out of touch with taxpayers.
If car tabs don’t get drastically reduced, then the property tax rate will have to. Taxpayers are talking! Government needs to listen or face the taxpayers in the polls. See how many bond issues and local option taxes get passed in the future if the taxpayers are continually ignored.
Government in other states seem to do well with less burdensome tax structures and no state income tax. One state even discounts the homeowners’ taxes by a cool $25,000 exemption and has car tabs at an affordable rate. How do they do that?
Certainly we are smart enough to match that and grow our economy without high tax rates. Jim Bennett Nine Mile Falls
I’ve seen irresponsible tax cutting
I wonder if anyone else was touched by the irony in Jack Thompson’s letter? (“Pass 695 and watch `bleaters’ squirm” (Aug. 11).
He states that Proposition 13 had no effect on the lives of the citizens of California and yet chose to leave the state and not see the long-term effects. The best elementary school system went to the second worst in the country (Newsweek). Class size grew to 35 and higher; teachers didn’t even have books for all of the students. The wonderful junior college system that provided free higher education to all citizens, including my parents, ceased to exist.
I pay significant taxes but I value community and the quality of life here like libraries, excellent fire coverage and schools. I lived in Spokane from the late 1970s and remember the loss of services due to the recession and reduced tax dollars. Libraries and parks closed. County fire and police services were minimal. Homeowner’s insurance often increases with poor protection.
I like the current quality of life and suggest Thompson relocate to the Bay Area again for a personal examination of the nonexistent effects of Proposition 13. S.R. Robinson Spokane
Ex-trooper’s story a revelation to me
After having read the Aug. 8 front page article on Washington State Patrol Detective Tracy Hansen’s investigation into Pete Powell’s motor home licensing, I felt compelled to thank The Spokesman-Review, the WSP and Hansen for helping me make up my mind how to vote on Initiative 695, regarding cutting license tabs to $30.
I was reluctant to vote for I-695 before because of the possibility of the state’s financial stability being shaken below minimum comfort levels, even though there is a huge surplus of revenue coming in at the present time. This article told me how much our state officials and employees need a little shaking if they are going to be crawling through alfalfa fields, like a snake, to try to prosecute someone who has retired, sold his property, moved out of state, bought his retirement dream in the form of a motor home and returned to visit.
If this person is breaking the law, then it is time to change the law regardless of the consequences. If he is not, then we have too many state employees with nothing worthwhile to do. When big brother government that was hired to serve and help solve the citizens’ problems becomes the problem, it is time to make it a little smaller.
Incidentally, I’m 87 years old, totally blind and have no use for a car. The price of a license tab makes no difference in my life. But this prime example of state totalitarianism makes me thankful I’m still allowed to vote. Claire C. Hansen Moses Lake
Overtaxation has led to this
It’s funny to hear about the repercussions of a flat vehicle tax when time and time again the state of Washington demonstrates its inability to manage the revenues it has.
Our streets and roads have been an abomination. But this tax has gone on a long time and it’s this simple: The people of Washington are tired of being raped to drive their cars in this state. It is clear we have let this tax get too large, when the sources of tax revenues should have been more balanced - a tribute to our decades of Democratic leadership.
Driving older cars is not the answer because the state will soon impose emission testing and revenue-gathering on cars as old as Model T’s.
Yes, we need to vote out the tax-and-spend politicians responsible for robbing our wallets, but we can also right some wrongs at the same time. Dennis Adams Veradale
LAW AND JUSTICE
Justice aborted in Bomstad case
Re: “Man won’t be charged in shooting deaths.”
How outrageous! I cannot believe prosecutors have decided not to prosecute Robert Bomstad for murdering two men because they believe the jury would find in his favor.
What a copout! While a man does have the right to defend himself, he doesn’t have the right to take the life of another when the other person doesn’t have a weapon or cannot equally defend himself.
As I understand it, Bomstad had a lethal weapon in his hand and the victims had nothing in theirs. If Bomstad had so much fear for his life, why didn’t he shoot up in the air or shoot them in the foot? Better yet, why didn’t he just turn and run, like he did after he killed those two young men?
My heart weeps for the family of Brandon Breitkreutz and for the family of Travis Robinson. It is a sad, sad day. Lisa E. Williams Spokane
Our go-round anything but merry
I want to congratulate Secret Witness on a new record. Robert Stanley Jennings, at 75 convictions, is the highest-volume offender in my memory to date.
Every week I have a good chuckle at the various career criminals (no, I won’t say “offender” any more) that appear in this section of the paper with various numbers of prior convictions - 15, 42, 31, etc. But 75, wow!
Also, this guy has demonstrated that he’s a pretty bad boy because these 75 convictions are for burglaries, robberies, assaults and intimidation with a weapon.
Secret Witness points out that he is considered a possible danger to the public. Well, no kidding.
What still has me scratching my head is why us taxpayers have to shell out more to apprehend and try this guy again when he has been in custody this many times. He must know everyone in the Spokane judicial system by first name and have the greatest lawyer in the world.
Wait a minute, could it be that the judicial system in this country is severely broken? I guess I just don’t get it! Scott L. Sanderson Spokane
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Cutting taxes the Republican way
Republicans keep announcing that average “hard-working Americans” are paying 40 percent of their income in taxes and inform us that Republicans are cutting those taxes. It therefore seems interesting that tax freedom day for average Americans has become later and later during the 20 years of Republican tax cutting.
During this same period, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans have seen a 36 percent cut in their federal tax rate, which means their tax freedom day is getting earlier and earlier.
Whenever discussing tax cuts, Republicans always fail to mention that $2 trillion out of the supposed $3 trillion surplus comes from Social Security (your payroll taxes). Eight out of 10 Americans now pay more in federal payroll taxes than in federal income taxes. These are the “hard-working Americans” that the Republicans say they’re so concerned about.
Isn’t it funny then that the Republican leadership has not said a word about reducing payroll taxes with the budget surplus?
The just-passed Republican tax cut goes mostly toward new corporate tax loopholes and lowering taxes on unearned income (and I stress the un part). Ninety-five percent of the unearned tax cuts go to the richest 10 percent (average income $204,000). The remainder goes to income tax reduction, where the richest get 60 percent of the cut.
Sen. John McCain is one of the few Republicans not owing to big money. Here’s his view: Special interests get the biggest breaks and they get them right away. All that American families get are the leftovers. Vern P. Stevens Kellogg, Idaho
Wealthy deserve bigger tax breaks
Re: Letter by David R. Canterbury, “Comforting the comfortable again” (Aug. 7).
I’m fascinated how Canterbury views a proposed refund of unused taxes based on a percentage of taxes paid as entitlements for the rich. I wonder if he feels a great injustice in the checkout line when fellow coupon shoppers get a bigger break for buying 10 cans of soup instead of one. The mathematics and theory are the same: the more you pay, the more you get back.
People with incomes greater than $200,000 a year are barely 2 percent of the population but they pay 40 percent of income taxes. These fortunate 2 percenters dine daily on a menu of income tax, B&O tax, payroll tax, personal property tax, estate tax, capital gains tax, sales tax and unemployment tax - just to name a few.
Before condemning the Lexus tax bracket, let’s think about our communities and ask ourselves who sponsors most youth sports, charities, PBS, scholarship programs and many of the small miracles associated with organizations like Make-a-Wish. I know who.
Rest easy, Canterbury, the president has promised to veto this proposal and we know his word is credible. If that darned George Nethercutt and his balanced-budget buddies hadn’t fought so hard and held their ground, we wouldn’t have to be dealing with this annoying surplus. I commend and thank them.
If you want a Lexus, just pay Uncle Sam more than $100,000 annually in prepaid estimated taxes and you can get one. Next year. Eric L. Weatherman Kettle Falls, Wash.
Prepare to be sidelined, Nethercutt
Poor George Nethercutt! He may be the first congressman to lose his seat to an undeclared, yet-to-be-announced, candidate X. He may very well lose on the same premise that got him elected. He declared that changing seats often was better than having the most powerful congressman representing the 5th District.
Now, he will undoubtedly get kicked in the seat by the voters. So I guess he was right. We won’t need term limits after all. Great! I don’t like term limits anyway. It’s too hard to find good people to run for office. If we’re to lucky enough to find a decent one, we want to keep the person around.
Oh, Nethercutt! Ya didn’t have to pledge to step down! Ya didn’t have to take the money! Ya didn’t have to lie! All you had to do was sit out a quarter and you’re back in the game. I guess that’s what’s wrong with our political process. It’s all a game. Just like the professional athletes who find they can hold the fans for ransom. The money corrupts, doesn’t it, Nethercutt?
Aw, Nethercutt, ya coulda been somebody. Ya coulda been the honorable George Nethercutt. Once ya’ get kicked in the seat by the taxpayers, you’re outta the game. Allan LeTourneau Spokane
Nethercutt is farmers’ friend
In answer to Marc Ramsey, allow me to say why I voted for George Nethercutt in 1994, 1996 and 1998 and will vote for him again in 2000.
No one has worked harder for the farmers than Nethercutt. Farmers in 1994 were sick and tired of the federal government and Tom Foley telling us what to do with our farm land. We were told what to plant, where to plant and how to plant. No one has worked harder to get sanctions lifted than Nethercutt so we would have markets in which to sell our products. Who wrote and brokered the deal with Pakistan and India?
Nethercutt had the courage to stand up and fight for our Second Amendment rights.< As for Linda Smith, thousands of mainstream Republicans were not Smith supporters. We knew Smith couldn’t beat Patty Murray. Smith didn’t lose the election because of the way Spokane County voted.
Nethercutt has never voted for a pay increase in Congress and he isn’t going to start now. These are just a few of the reasons tens of thousands of people voted for Nethercutt. I’m confident they’ll vote for him again. Doreen Hendy Spokane
IDAHO VIEWPOINTS
Property owner within his rights
Marvin Erickson’s 25-year dream is coming true. He is building his house on the face of Canfield Mountain, and a lot of people don’t like it. Could one factor be jealousy? Maybe.< When a man-caused fire burned the front of Canfield about 27 years ago, Erickson, the men who work for his brother, Bruce, and the rest of their family logged and replanted the trees. That’s when his dream began. They took care of the mountain more than any other Coeur d’Alene native.
Yes, he was born and raised at the foot of Canfield. He graduated from Coeur d’Alene High School, class of 1960, and lived here all his life. You can’t get any more native than that.
It’s Erickson’s property, bought and paid for, taxes and all. He has every right to do anything he wants to, like it or not. I, don’t know anyone who would allow someone else to dictate to them what they can or can not do with one’s own property. It’s not our mountain, it’s his. It’s only our view.
I’m sure, with the way the Erickson family has taken care of things in the past, the view will eventually get back to as normal as possible. With the population explosion in Coeur d’Alene and all the housing developments going up everywhere, it’s just a shame we can’t say the same about the eyesore view he gets of the valley. Misty A. Koskimaki Coeur d’Alene
New hire an anti-labor maneuver
Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Judy and the City Council have continued their war against the Lake City Employees Association to the tune of $75,000 a year. Even after the residents of Coeur d’Alene voted to allow collective bargaining by city employees, Judy still fights against it, this time by hiring new City Manager Dan Drible.
This is a man who, in his first local newspaper story, is quoted as saying, “I felt like we did pretty good to hold it off for that length of time.” He was talking about the 10 years at Farmington, N.M., that he managed to keep city workers from their lawful right to organize. What do you think his priority will be here?
Remember, Coeur d’Alene, you voted to allow collective bargaining and now your city officials are willing to spend $75,000 a year to continue to attempt to block it. Our new city manager also got $100,000 for getting out of town in New Mexico. How much will it cost you when he leaves? Michael J. Hart Post Falls
Free speech not quantifiable
Re: your Opinion page pro and con of Aug. 6, “Have Richard Butler’s neo-Nazis had enough free speech for one year?”
Can anyone in this United States have enough free speech? How arrogant for anyone, especially a newspaper, to suggest setting limits on any citizen’s right to free speech in this country. Robert Weaver Sandpoint
OVER THE LINE
Like trying to use stringless yo-yos
The Roundtable Aug. 4 cartoon certainly tells, in a nutshell, what City Manager Bill Pupo cost Spokane during his “kingly” period.
Come on, for 23 years of service to the city of Spokane he was paid well. Now comes the Spokane City Council, with sawdust for brains and, overcome with sentimentality, it flat out gives him $87,000 of taxpayers’ money, regardless of how they felt about it - citizen, taxpayer, be damned.
From my strategic observation post in the Panhandle of North Idaho, I see a city and council out of control, big time. C. Dean Mathers Coeur d’Alene