Feeling overtaxed

Dear editor:

I did a search about our grocery tax cuts under Gov. Beebe, which began on July 1,

2007, reducing our sales tax on groceries from 6 percent to 3 percent; followed by another reduction in 2009 from 2 percent to 1.5 percent. Question: Was I the only person who thought that the grocery tax was to be totally eliminated? I was so sure that our elected officials were promising to do away with the grocery tax to help the poor and discovered also to help families who made less than $40,000 a year. And of all things, learned about the huge “surplus” in taxes that the state had. Where has that money gone to?

I’m sure you could put a few housewives, who live on a budget, and they could figure out the best use of the state’s tax dollars. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out when money isn’t being used well. I was a single parent raising two children in the

1980s through the 1990s, and I know from my own experience how to rightly decide how to budget.

Why do our elected officials never truly cut their spending, but use the previous year’s budget as a starting point and then raising the costs needed to do the job the next year? Not to mention, why ask for a grant or matching funds for a project and not cut down the tax burden on the citizens? If we are going to change the tax revisions for the state, why not take the state lottery money and use it to cover any and all extra expenses? This, I say, as a grandmother who sees that her little ones are still soaked in student loans for college. There’s plenty of money there to send our children off to a “free college education,” in my personal opinion.

I am tired of shopping around town and discovering the two or more taxes being charged on my receipts. And the same items purchased on one side of town to the next with different tax amounts being charged. Yes, I do feel overtaxed and I personally would like to keep more of my income, which has never reached $40,000 a year. L.J. Gibson Hot Springs of all the wonderful things Hot Springs has to offer, it’s the pathetic actions of a city employee that is making the news.

How can the actions of Joe Graham go unnoticed and unpunished? It’s obvious from the comments he made on the news that he doesn’t think his actions were a big deal. Just trying to lighten the mood in the office — seriously? This man was entrusted with confidential case pictures and chose to photocopy and distribute pornography. The fact that he thought no one was bothered by it is even more disturbing. Who would be OK with that? It makes me wonder if this the norm for Mr. Graham and the staff have learned to turn a blind eye.

I hope his actions are investigated and Mr. Graham does the right thing and removes his name from the ballot. Politics aside, it’s about human decency and doing what’s right. What’s to stop this from happening again? What if it’s your friends or family’s case that is used to “lighten the mood ” in an office?

I’d love to see your staff look into this and provide the citizens of our great city with some assurance that our rights are protected. Cathy Rasmussen A sad citizen of Garland County