To The Reader’s Forum:

When a state elected official talks of “tax relief,” I think we should all chuckle at such words. For we know what they really mean. “Tax relief” is not about taking a burden away from the population of the state, but it is to take away things we do together to improve our lives.

Whenever a politician uses words such as “tax relief” or “tax cuts” or “spending cuts,” we know that the politician is avoiding telling us what they really want to do. They really want to cut services. But they are not forthright enough to tell us exactly which services they want to take from us. So when our elected officials say, “Tax relief,” we can chuckle and ask, “What do they want to take from us?” Do they want to take funding from our schools, thus making our population less educated and less to govern themselves? Perhaps they mean to cut funding for roads, to cut funds for clean water and clean air. Maybe they want to cut funding for health care, or to cut funding for the care of people in nursing homes. Do they want to cut funding for economic development? Do they mean to cut state police funding so people have less help when they are in trouble? Go ahead, elected officials, tell us what you want to take from us. This is no laughing matter.

So when our county’s elected state politicians say that the top issue on our list is tax relief, we need to chuckle. Our top issues are health, health insurance for everyone, better wages (and less inequality of wages between genders, and less inequality between employees and CEOs), good education, clean water, rental housing that is regulated so that it is in good condition and affordable. We work hard to provide ourselves those good things. “Tax relief” will not help us accomplish them.

We should just chuckle at politicians who say they want tax cuts and be glad we work together (through taxes) to make this area a better place to provide each other the things we need to live.

Timothy Hoyer,

Jamestown