Sound Off for Feb. 15, 2020

Bad driving

Parents, do you have any idea how your children are driving? Today a little white car followed me down Mississippi 67. Right on my bumper, whipping around cars right and left and speeding. I laughed when I got to the stop light right behind him. But what gave me pause was that he turned to go in the entrance to D’Iberville High School. So I ask again: Parents, do you have any idea?

Fact of life

After reading Sound Off the last couple of days, I have two things to point out. First, coverage of pre-existing conditions as it pertains to medical insurance amounts to welfare. Whether the government forces insurance companies to provide it or they do it themselves, we pay for it as taxpayers or as those who purchase insurance. Second, I don’t care how you frame it, corporations do not pay taxes. The cost is always passed on to whomever is purchasing the product of the corporation.

Big tax bill

I consider myself middle class. But to say rich don’t pay their fair share is somewhat untrue. Go to any courthouse and look at land records and see how much they pay in taxes on a mansion, office buildings, investment property, and sales tax for several luxury cars plus tags. They pay in different ways. The more you make, the more you spend, the more taxes you pay.

Envy as motivation?

Tax the rich? It has none of little effect on how much revenue the federal government receives each year. Federal tax collections have been between 15 percent and 20 percent of GDP every year since 1960. However, between 1960 and today, the top marginal tax rate has varied between 91 percent and 35 percent. So, if “tax the rich” is intended to produce more government revenue, it is meaningless. That leaves only envy as the motivation for “tax the rich.”

A good comparison?

So Kapernick kneeled in protest of the justice system and is punished because it was done doing our anthem. Trump is protesting Roger Stone’s conviction, saying the jurors were biased. The DOJ is overruling his sentencing in protest. Abuse of power vs. kneeling?

Just remember

My theory for the deer on the beach is they are being driven out of their habitat by builders of subdivisions. So when you get your shiny new home remember animals died for it.

This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Sound Off for Feb. 15, 2020."