A gay tax exemption needed
Do lesbians, gays and transgender folk have a tax exemption? If not, why not?
We certainly don’t get full value for our taxes, not with people like Kim Davis and Mike Huckabee in or running for office. They are supposed to be public servants, which means serving all the public. This of course, includes us. They choose to serve only part of the public, so why should we help pay their salaries? They not only do not work on our behalf, they actively work to harm us.
Why would they even want to take our tainted money? I would think it would go against their principles and deeply held values.
I have a modest proposal I believe would solve this problem. Public servants who don’t want to serve our part of the public should take a 15 percent reduction in salary since we are about 15 percent of the public. And, we should have about a 15 percent reduction in taxes to make up for what we lose in representation. I have given this a lot of thought, and this seems only fair to me.
What do the rest of you think?
DIANA RIVERS
Fayetteville
Our country first
On Sept. 21, I read another fine article written by Greg Harton, this one on the subject of immigration, mainly related to the arrival of large numbers of foreigners to Europe, but with a direct connection to the current situation in the United States.
Immigration is a natural behavior because the grass is often greener on the other side of the fence and we all tend to migrate for better futures, as I did years ago when my company invited me to work in Bentonville and I moved from another country. Many others move from another state, or another county or another city in the same county, or even within the limits of the same city.
Mr. Harton mentions that “nations cannot afford porous borders.” This concept should be front and center in the minds of the United States government, because its main responsibility is the safety and well-being of its citizens, not the citizens of other countries. Those citizens need to build a country with a government that protects them, perhaps with a little help from their friends.
Is this selfish? Perhaps. Xenophobic? I don’t think so. I call it patriotism, as Mr. Harton did.
OCTAVIO SANCHEZ
Bentonville