YOUR VIEWS
Protect the vulnerable
Republicans just don’t get it. You can’t tax cut your way out of our self-imposed state revenue failure. Yet “House passes tax break for trucking fleets” (News, Nov. 10) notes Republican leadership in the state House sent a measure to the Senate that would exempt heavy trucks from the new automobile sales tax passed this spring. A story the same day reveals that the Legislature’s failure to resolve the budget crisis forced the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to slash its budget for SoonerCare, the health care program for the poorest citizens in our state: 9 percent cuts across the board, 4 percent to nursing facilities, 4 percent to intermediate care facilities and 4 percent to nursing facilities for AIDS patients. Even if additional tax cuts do benefit big companies with large fleets like Love’s and Walmart, that will further threaten the lives of seniors and people with disabilities. In fact, the Legislature can’t even tell you how much it already gives away in tax discounts to corporations that should be paying more of their assessed taxes to help pull the state out of the crisis.
When will voters demand that Republicans finally stop catering to their wealthiest corporate donors and start protecting vulnerable and middle-class taxpayers from the financial disaster that the Republican majority has created?
Tax questions
Phyllis Bryant, Bethany
I need some help to understand why the Republican majority is considering the tax bill that would gut the Affordable Care Act. This same bill will also lead to a cut of $25 billion to Medicare
in 2018. The plan’s change to estate taxes will affect less than 5,000 estates, yet the revenue cut would be in the billions of dollars. Is it not possible to craft a tax reform bill that makes more sense than this?
Mary Silva, Stillwater
Nothing has changed
I am a Vietnam veteran and have been in the Veterans Administration system for more than 30 years. As each new government administration begins, there are always many speeches about changing the VA. There have been essentially no changes. The same methods employed for caring for this nations’ veterans are in force today just as they were in 1979. I am sick and tired of the lip service I have received for over 30 years. I no longer seek out medical treatment at any VA facility. I depend on Medicare, and the one good thing the military did for me was provide me with Tri-Care for a secondary insurance.
I would serve again if able and this nation needed me to, because our way of life is precious and we must defend it at all cost. It’s time for people to wake up and pay attention to what our elected officials are doing. The majority of our elected officials seem to have forgotten who hired them.
Tedwell Campbell, Wewoka