Gambling expansion unneeded

I am not a prude, but I just wrote to my state senators asking them to vote against SB 5212 which would expand gambling in Washington.

There are too many people already who are losing their money gambling, and we don’t need to encourage it. We need a more equitable way of raising money for the state of Washington. Instead of scrounging dollars on the backs of people who are trying to fight their way out of poverty by gambling, we need to come up with something better.

My letter also told them that I support a capital gains tax on people who have incomes of over $100,000 a year. I didn’t tell them that many years ago I wrote a letter to the Spokesman Review which said that I supported an income tax for people who had incomes of over $100,000. At that time my husband and I were both working and our income was over $100,000. It seemed so unfair to me that people with lower incomes were paying way more of their income, percentage wise, in state sales tax than I was paying.

That idea didn’t go far, although there were a number of wealthy and well-known Washingtonians who agreed with me. It appears that Washington will never vote for an income tax, so now I say, let’s vote for a capital gains tax for people whose income is over $100,000. We need to change the regressive tax structure in the State of Washington. It’s only fair.

Linda Greene

Spokane