Tax less, donate more

It’s that time of year again. I just filed and made the final payment for 2014 taxes due. This was in addition to property taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, and on and on. For those of you who are not retired, you also paid significant Social Security and Medicare taxes, as did your employer.

I did, however, have the privilege of paying income tax on my Social Security benefits as well as paying significant out-of-pocket costs for Medicare coverage. Taxes on taxes. What a country.

The April 12 front-page expose on funding for homeless housing is interesting timing. The fact that people who may not have made the best life choices, but finally have a free place to call their own is uplifting. They even have paid guides to help them get maximum benefits, and their public funded housing vouchers will be used to keep the operation going. It is indeed a self-eating watermelon.

However, I would rather be taxed less and route giving to causes I deem important, theirs included. Thanks, Volunteers of America and Catholic Charities, for spending my money better than I ever could. How much money do you make spending mine?

Steve Clemens

Fairfield