This country needs to stop spending more than it has and start repaying the national debt. The national debt is slowly sinking this nation. The privileged 535 representatives in Congress made that happen. Going back to 1990, the debt was $3 trillion and, during the next 25 years, it climbed to $18 trillion. It is now nearing $21 trillion.
That is all borrowed money — a lot of it borrowed from countries that don’t necessarily like the U.S. Many of the taxpayers’ dollars go only to pay the interest on that debt.
To me, that is a frightening situation. It is time for people in Congress to act like responsible adults.
Currently, Congress is proposing an income tax bill with significant changes in deductions. A glaring error in the proposal is that state tax paid cannot be deducted from the income subject to federal tax. Thus, a person is paying a tax to the U.S. government on money already used to pay the state taxes. That is illogical.
Tax proposals can be changed by the privileged 535 members of Congress or by a presidential veto. The recent crop of presidents has been hesitant to veto the political tax negotiations of the 535.
One of these days the public will get a president who has the courage to veto a tax proposal that may be good for a political group, but not good for most of the citizens of the United States.
Thomas Shields, Auburn
Send questions/comments to the editors.
