State tax-cut cash could fund projects
Recently there was a story about Gov.-elect Mike Pence in Fort Wayne. I have some questions and some suggestions.
First, the questions:
Is Pence still a member of the U.S. House? If he is, why isn’t he in Washington, D.C., taking care of the nation’s business? Why is he touring Indiana pushing his plans for the state? He won’t be governor until next month. He pushed his plans, during the campaign.
Now for the suggestions:
I don’t think we need a state income tax cut. If the state has that much money, I think they should spend the surplus: finish Interstate 69, repair bridges, increase funding to education, contribute to public employee pensions, etc. If the governor-elect really wants to cut taxes, he should push to lower the state sales tax.
DENNIS A. HEADLEE Fort Wayne
Politicians lacking will to act on guns
The Sandy Hook massacre killed 26 people, 20 of them children 6 and 7 years old. The politicians have issued their platitudes and they’ll return home for the holidays, but no gun reform will be legislated by them. They’re in the back pockets of the National Rifle Association, both parties. Ministers and preachers will issue their usual bromides, “will of God,” “little angels,” “in a much better place,” except for a few who have little to say but who speak to us loudest. Grab your kids and hug them all.
PHIL MUELLER Crown Point
Corporations not paying their fair share in taxes
With an eye to the looming fiscal cliff, Washington is making important decisions on whether taxes should be higher or lower – but many companies aren’t even paying what they owe. At least 83 of the top 100 publicly traded corporations in the U.S., such as Boeing and GE, use offshore tax havens to avoid paying federal taxes. This adds up to an estimated $1.5 trillion to the deficit over 10 years.
There are some tough budget decisions ahead, but closing the offshore tax loopholes that let large companies shift their tax burden to the rest of us should be an easy one.
We can’t afford tax haven loopholes now. We can’t continue loosing $150 billion in revenue every year as the deficit grows and grows. The Indiana delegation should make sure that the conversation in Washington does not leave out this common sense step to draw down the deficit.
ALEC SPRAGUE Federal field organizer Indiana Public Interest Research Group
Serfmen tale incomplete without keyboardist
In response to the article “Rock ’n’ roll dream found in lost record” (Dec. 4), one very important person in the article was left out. Hoagland’s very own Carl Aldrich was a founding member and was with the original lineups, even the pre-Olivers “Serfmen.” He actually wrote a great deal of music, including co-authoring the one single that is considered to be one of the most highly collected in the “garage band” genre of records, “Beeker Street/I Saw What You Did.” He was the keyboardist from the beginning and almost up to the time of the recording of the lost record. He actually was there when the early Serfmen recorded a song at a Fort Wayne radio studio of “Chills and Fever.” Aldrich still plays in the Fort Wayne music scene as part of Stagecoach.
TED RUPEL Fort Wayne
