State's reps in Congress
must show more courage
We readers had ample reminders recently of the good old days of the Cold War. On Thursday, Oct. 1, John Brummett started us off by connecting Donald Trump to Joe McCarthy and his days of the "Red Scare," the "Lavender Scare" and "un-American activities." On Oct. 2, the Soviet ball got another shove from Steve Womack who, repeating the party talking points, called the impeachment process "Soviet-style." Beneath all of this was Donald Trump's behavior, accused of using our tax dollars to leverage Ukraine into digging up dirt on Joe Biden. We citizens get to decide if we want our tax dollars used in this way, and whether that behavior, if proven, merits impeachment.
The mention of the Soviets sets up another connection. Sen. McCarthy hit his popularity peak in 1952 and 1953, looking for Commies in the government, perhaps the original Deep State accusations. The Senate censured him in 1954 for bringing disrepute on the Senate. Senate archives state that his supporters "did not attempt to defend his actions but focused instead on procedural concerns." Our job as citizens is to look at the behavior of the president and ask if, as in 2016, our 2020 election is threatened. Let's not get side-tracked by procedural arguments and words like "Soviet-style," especially if the phone call with Ukraine was "perfect."
John F. Kennedy was in the Senate with Joe McCarthy. McCarthy was a friend of Kennedy's father and had dated two of Kennedy's sisters. JFK, absent from the Senate with a bad back when the McCarthy censure vote was taken, avoided a public position on McCarthy's behavior. After the publication of his book Profiles in Courage, JFK's colleagues wished he had shown less profile and more courage in the McCarthy censure.
That is my hope for the Arkansas delegation ... less profile and more courage.
Sheila Gallagher
Rogers
Tax policies make business
hard for 'mom, pop' locales
What's in a name? To Romeo, "a rose by any other name would be as sweet." What is a restaurant? Google says, "a place where people pay to sit and eat meals that are cooked and served on the premises." What about Arkansas?
My husband and I own a large bed and breakfast near Winslow. We have lodge rooms and cabins and maintain a restaurant license issued by Arkansas.
Winslow has 395 people; the options for food are limited. We make pizza for the public, and offer the option of meals to retreat groups.
This is where the confusion enters. According to Arkansas, when I serve any meal to cabin guests, I am providing a "service," and the food must be taxed at 3.25 percent before I give it to them and then charge them 10.25 percent tax on their stay. Therefore, I am not a restaurant.
If someone staying here asks to have someone off-site join them, then I am a restaurant, and their food is taxed at 8.25 percent. Likewise, because I charge an all-inclusive rate to groups, I am not a restaurant. Call and purchase a pizza on Friday or Saturday nights? I am a restaurant. If I also serve pizzas to my cabin guests that night, I am not. If I fix lunches for people staying here, I am not a restaurant, but if someone staying elsewhere eats with them, then I am.
Confused? Me too.
Have you wondered where all the mom and pop businesses went? They are quickly disappearing into this conundrum where a business pays tax on an item, then turns around and collects tax on a service including the already taxed items. The government sees a way to make businesses collect additional taxes if they are labeled differently.
What's in a name?
Janice Jorgenson
Winslow
Editorial on 11/12/2019