A fairer tax option to raise revenue

Our county commissioners may need more revenue, which usually means a tax increase. Some people say that property taxes are too high, and this writer says that sales taxes are too high. So where do we go?

What is the future of property tax? It appears the trend is to give business a large break as an incentive to come to a community, so we don’t benefit from full taxes here. It costs money to administer property taxes because a county must have a tax assessor, assistants and a staff to collect it. Some people believe that renters don’t pay property tax, but the owner of the property pays the tax and pushes it off on the renter in the form of higher rent. Due to the financial crisis, more and more people will become renters. In addition, the future trend seems to be to build smaller private houses which will have less value which means less property tax collected.

On the other hand, sales tax is one of the most regressive taxes. It really hits the low income person very hard. It is unfair when we tax basic necessities such as food, but we allow a person who buys a big ticket luxury item a significant break on the sales tax.

What is the answer? None of us really likes to pay taxes, but if we demand the service and protection from the government, we must fund it in some manner. It appears that local government has taxed property and sales far too much. Why not consider a local income tax? The adjusted gross income could come from the federal tax form, and a percentage of that income could come back to the local government. By doing this, we don’t need additional tax assessors, and we don’t tax the low income person unfairly according to their income. Seems to me one of the fairest taxes we could enact.

— Gordon Correll

Salisbury

 

Give the gift of life 

As of Feb. 10, my husband Wayne will be celebrating his fifth year as a heart transplant recipient. This wouldn’t be a possibility without the generous donation by his donor and their family. It is vitally important to be an organ donor. So many people can have their lives saved by this selfless action. Had my husband’s donor not given this wonderful gift of life, we wouldn’t have had these last five years to enjoy together. I am hoping we have many more years together, enjoying good health and happiness. Please give this gift. You will not only save a sick person’s life; you will also be saving the lives of the people that love them.

— Robin Hager

Salisbury

 

Clinic closing a shock

I have used Rowan Urgent Care for many years, all the way back to when it was called Ro-Med, and have always gotten excellent service and care there. I was shocked to learn during my visit there Tuesday of the decision to close it by the Schumacher Group on Feb. 28. Anyone else wishing to voice disapproval of their decision should go to Schumacher group.com /contact us and let them know.

The only problem I see is the bad current location that they were moved to.

— Michael Broadway

Salisbury