From LaVern F. Isely
Monroe
To the editor,
I would hope every citizen, particularly politicians, would read the excellent book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin titled "The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism."
We definitely have problems today with the influence of wealthy people contributing huge amounts of money to politicians. This is not necessarily a new problem. As far back as over 100 years ago, when Judge Alton Parker, a Democrat, was running against President Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, Judge Parker asked the question on page 714: "whether it is possible for interests in this country to control the elections with money."
This was pretty obvious because President Teddy Roosevelt was challenging the big money trusts, who were trying to control prices. The main character was J.D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, who was prosecuted under President Teddy Roosevelt, the trust buster, in 1906 under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act but not finally broken up until 1911, when William H. Taft was president, when the Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil to be broken up.
So things were bad in those days and they are not any better today, when candidates like Gov. Scott Walker is talking about wanting to get rid of the state income tax because he said there are other states that don't have an income tax and he thought that was a good direction to go in. The elected officials, if put in office, will decide what our country will look like in the future.
In 1882, Standard Oil Trust controlled 90 percent of the country's refining capacity and almost as much of its pipelines. If you think this is the direction we should go in, Gov. Walker's suggestion of eliminating the income tax, with someone that wealthy, would just magnify the problem of the growing gap between the rich and the poor, which has been widening for at least the last 30 years.
If Walker doesn't believe income taxes should be based on ability to pay, which is fair, and instead puts it on the back of the sales tax and even worse, the property tax, it makes it even harder for the retired people to live in their own home, which would be cheaper and more enjoyable than in a nursing home.
The issue is money and since bills have to get paid - What's the fairest way to pay them?
Monroe
To the editor,
I would hope every citizen, particularly politicians, would read the excellent book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin titled "The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism."
We definitely have problems today with the influence of wealthy people contributing huge amounts of money to politicians. This is not necessarily a new problem. As far back as over 100 years ago, when Judge Alton Parker, a Democrat, was running against President Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, Judge Parker asked the question on page 714: "whether it is possible for interests in this country to control the elections with money."
This was pretty obvious because President Teddy Roosevelt was challenging the big money trusts, who were trying to control prices. The main character was J.D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, who was prosecuted under President Teddy Roosevelt, the trust buster, in 1906 under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act but not finally broken up until 1911, when William H. Taft was president, when the Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil to be broken up.
So things were bad in those days and they are not any better today, when candidates like Gov. Scott Walker is talking about wanting to get rid of the state income tax because he said there are other states that don't have an income tax and he thought that was a good direction to go in. The elected officials, if put in office, will decide what our country will look like in the future.
In 1882, Standard Oil Trust controlled 90 percent of the country's refining capacity and almost as much of its pipelines. If you think this is the direction we should go in, Gov. Walker's suggestion of eliminating the income tax, with someone that wealthy, would just magnify the problem of the growing gap between the rich and the poor, which has been widening for at least the last 30 years.
If Walker doesn't believe income taxes should be based on ability to pay, which is fair, and instead puts it on the back of the sales tax and even worse, the property tax, it makes it even harder for the retired people to live in their own home, which would be cheaper and more enjoyable than in a nursing home.
The issue is money and since bills have to get paid - What's the fairest way to pay them?
