Letters to the editor: Pay it forward, one-party state, tax cut bill
Thank you from pilot’s mother
Thank you to all the wonderful friends, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, family near and far, the National Guard family, the U.S. Army family, Skywest Airlines, I feel the love!
My deepest sympathies to the CW3 George “Geoff” Laubhan family and the CW3 Matthew D. Peltzer family.
The life of a military family can be difficult. So many worries, missed holidays, birthdays, milestones. Please reach out to military families, they are your neighbors. It will take a village to raise those children left behind. My family is fortunate to have that village. We can all be that village for a child.
Honor these brave young men by giving a few dollars or volunteering a little time. Give to the Idaho Food Bank, women’s and children’s shelters, homeless veterans, the Humane Society, foster a pet or socialize kittens (yes, that is a real thing!), become a hospice volunteer, foster a child, adopt an immigrant family, a college student, a teacher, a single mom, a senior citizen. Plant a tree, a flower, a garden, a dream. Pick up trash, shovel a driveway, smile, wave at little kids — joy and happiness are contagious! COVID-19 restrictions will end sooner if we all wear our masks, social distance and get vaccinated. We can all make a difference by paying it forward. Every loving thought, every random act of kindness, adds a stitch to my broken heart … only a million more to go ! It will take time, but I know we will be all right.
And lastly, “thank you” to my beautiful, happy boy, CW4 Jesse O. Anderson, who chose this family, this aviator’s life, and lived with joy, and hope, and so much love. I will remember the love.
Lori (Nick) Anderson, Kuna
One-party state
Wendell Phillips warned that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Idahoans, be vigilant! Our reactionary legislature is dissatisfied with Idaho as a one-party state. They now want to be the only branch of government. They attempt to curtail the governor’s rightful powers and circumvent our attorney general. And, most egregiously, they are moving to silence the will of the people. Senate Bill 1110 is a double silencing of the people’s voice. First, it makes citizen initiatives in Idaho, already among the most difficult in the nation, virtually impossible to pursue. Second, it keeps issues the legislature refuses to consider from coming before the voters, such as the case of Medicare expansion. This proposal is profoundly undemocratic in many other ways: it gives a single county effective veto power over the process. It takes away citizens’ only true tool for making their voices heard when suppressed and ignored. Historian Timothy Snyder warns against the one-party state arguing that the party will exploit their advantage to make life impossible for opponents, to eradicate meaningful opposition, and that they will do so from within the political process. In this case, their opponents are the very people they are meant to serve.
Jeffrey Wilhelm, Boise
Tax bill misguided
More tax relief for people who already have enough, less for those who are struggling to make ends meet?
The tax bill sponsored by the four most powerful men in the Legislature offers definite savings for taxpayers in the top bracket, reducing income tax from 7% to 6.5% of taxable income. But instead of exempting groceries from sales tax, which would similarly benefit wage-earners at the bottom, the bill simply lowers the sales tax rate from 6% to 5.3% on all purchases, including food.
The bill’s sponsors calculate that lowering overall sales tax by not quite one percentage point will enable Idahoans to save on other purchases what the sales tax they still pay on groceries costs them. I have trouble imagining that a single parent with gross pay of eight or nine dollars an hour will have much left over for other purchases after paying out half their income for housing, buying food at even the thriftiest level, and insuring and fueling a car to get to work.
We hear a lot from legislators that people should work and support themselves. This bill indicates Idaho wants them to work but doesn’t care if they can support themselves.
Darcy James, Boise