Views from readers: tobacco taxes + foreign workers
Roofing issues?
After Hurricane Katrina, migrant workers, mostly Mexican, repaired the vast majority of roof damage on the Mississippi Coast. The actual number of temporary migrant workers is not known.
However, every Coast resident remembers the quick work, at very reasonable cost, these migrant workers performed in restoring local roofs.
President Trump’s current policy is to allow zero temporary migrant workers into the U.S. Have you seen any Mexican roofing crews?
In addition, President Trump took $158.4 million from FEMA, appropriated for disaster relief by Congress, to help build the border wall. Thus far, FEMA has not declared hurricane Zeta a disaster. We should not expect FEMA relief.
Since Katrina, the cost of wind insurance for homes and businesses has risen very rapidly on the Coast. Also, the wind deductible has more than doubled since Katrina. Our economy is based on supply and demand. Indubitably, due to the lack of available roofers, the cost of repairs will increase dramatically.
So to Coast homeowners and business owners with wind damage, prepare to be patient while awaiting repairs; and, be sure to have a substantial balance in your bank account to cover the costs of repairs.
Charles A. Boggs
Long Beach
Stand your ground
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is pushing a new law in his state that expands the Stand Your Ground Law. This law would allow you to shoot if rioters destroy your property or looters steal and burn businesses.
This is perhaps the best idea I’ve heard in years, the right to defend yourself and your property against anarchy!.
This will put a stop to the mayhem that Democrats turn a blind eye to.
I hope DeSantis runs for President.
Malcolm McBee
Gulfport
Protect the kids
As a grandparent, I am concerned about the skyrocketing youth tobacco use rates. More than one in five high schoolers now use e-cigarettes. And we know that kids who use e-cigarettes are more likely to try conventional cigarettes.
But there is good news: we know how we can reverse these disturbing trends in Mississippi. Increasing our state’s tobacco tax is a proven way to help prevent kids from starting to use tobacco and help people who are already addicted to quit.
In Mississippi, increasing our state’s tobacco tax to $1.50 per pack would have a significant fiscal and health impact including saving 9,200 individuals from premature, smoking-related death and a 16% decrease in underage smoking.
This month marks the American Cancer Society’s 45th annual Great American Smokeout, a day dedicated to helping people make a plan to quit tobacco. I hope our policymakers consider how we can urgently and effectively address the dangerously high youth tobacco rate — and future we’d like to build for our kids.
Laurie Johnson
Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Bay Saint Louis