Recent letters to the editor piqued my interest.
Two diametrically opposed letters opining about I-645 shows socialist thinking in one and reasoned criticism in the other.
Another letter writer suggested scrapping our Constitutional Republic by increasing the number of senators to reflect a state’s population.
Daniel Meekhof recommended a “no” vote on I-645, citing a litany of new proposed spending. High on the list is that his taxes would be reduced. This theory, from those with the means to those with the need, has been tried and failed many times. Cuba and Venezuela are excellent examples.
On the other hand, Ruth Peterson’s letter points out many misconceptions contained within I-645. Her arguments prompted me to read, (oh yawn!), the legislation: SB-6346. Right in the beginning, item 9 clearly states, “Thus the Legislature intends to limit the tax established by this act to only individuals with annual adjusted income of $1,000,000 or more.” Followed by Section 201.1 that states only “individuals” are subject to the tax. And then there is Section 309: This section contains the “marriage penalty” Ruth points out. Basically, this means if you are married or have a domestic partner your incomes are combined and if the total exceeds $1,000,000 you are subject to the tax. Other sections describe how athletes will be taxed and out-of-state businesses are subject to the tax if deriving income from within Washington. This legislation appears to deviate from “only” individual Washington resident millionaires paying this tax.
Vote “yes” on I-645 and help repeal this duplicitous income tax before all of us are burdened with an income tax no matter what our income is.
I didn’t forget Joseph Tipler and his call to destroy our Republic. Each state, even Wyoming and Alaska, have two senators for a very good reason. It’s to check the power of the House of Representatives, whose number is determined by a state’s population.
Think about the fact that Washington only has 10 representatives to California’s 52, Texas’s 38, New York’s 26 and Florida’s 28. Two senators give low population states political power they would not have in a democracy with both the House and Senate determined by the population of a state.
That’s part of the checks and balances built into our Constitutional Republic.
While these two issues do not appear congruent they both have roots in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform. Because our Democratic Party does not speak out against the un-American ideals of the DSA, I suspect they may be one-in-the-same. That portends ill for the future of our constitutional republic.
Vote yes on I-645 and carefully look at who and what you vote for in November’s general election.
Gregory Riplinger
Centralia
