Once again I am flummoxed!
My wife and I each worked hard all our adult lives, paid our taxes and felt blessed to be in the working class in a country that allowed us to do that. Now we are retired and living on a modest retirement and still paying taxes on retirement funds and Social Security.
Then this morning (March 31) we heard the news about a new program by L.A. County that is going to give a thousand people $1,000 a month for three years that they can spend any way they want. (One more step toward wealth distribution and socialism.)
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t begrudge those 1,000 people, because I am sure they can really use it. However, what confuses me is why do we have to continue to budget very carefully to continue to live a working-class life while wages are going up, inflation is up, the cost of living is skyrocketing, taxes are up and our taxes are helping pay that $1,000 a month to those who can spend it “however” they want.
We need to help the homeless. We need county mental hospitals. We need low-cost housing. We need to have our government take care of our veterans. We need to give all of these people a “HAND UP,” not a “HANDOUT!”
Yes, this would still use our tax dollars; but wouldn’t you rather have your taxes be used for actually trying to “solve problems” rather than just giving it away?
Solving problems! What a unique idea! But that doesn’t buy votes. That doesn’t keep you in office. That doesn’t pay your comfortable salary. That doesn’t help you live in an “ivory tower” while so many people are just trying to live. That doesn’t keep the middle, working class and the poor in their place!
Will our government leaders ever try to solve these problems? I guess not. I have been paying my taxes for over 60 years and it hasn’t happened yet.
So perhaps I could at least solve my problem by NOT paying my taxes. But, I would be thrown in prison. (However, I would continue to get my retirement, get my Social Security, have a place to sleep, have a nice library, workout room, television, three meals a day and a free medical plan.) Of course I jest; but it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
I believe our “leaders” will never try to solve these problems until we pay them minimum wage. Make them use government-funded health care. Make them pay taxes without loopholes. Make them retire on Social Security. And hold them responsible when these and so many other problems don’t get solved.
Then, I will feel better about continuing to pay my taxes.
Ron Perry
Canyon Country
