Tax the rich
To the editor:
Concerning the article in the 14 June 2024 Port Orchard Independent, “Funding district could help Kitsap health care woes”: Property taxes, like sales taxes, make the poor poorer and the rich richer. People can look up the mechanics of how that works, but basically Bill Gates and Elon Musk spend a far less percentage of their income and wealth on housing than you or I, leaving them a much greater amount of money to invest and make even more money. And of course, the landlord’s property tax is folded into any rent people pay.
This article reports that a property tax is being advocated by some to help Kitsap poor people get health care. Kitsap and the whole USA desperately needs better health care, education, parks, public works, libraries and other human services. And we also need to stop making the poor poorer and the rich richer. We need to go soak the fat cats and make them pay income and wealth taxes. They have ridden on our backs for way too long. I pray that someday soon the grapes of wrath will come to fruition.
John Stege
Port Orchard
Nuisance fees
To the editor:
At a recent South Kitsap School District board meeting, fees were approved for facilities usage. The rhetoric and rationale discussed is meaningless. The charges are really “nuisance” fees. The district makes little from this “revenue” stream.
The solution is easy. With over 230 “extra” employees, cutting just one or two of them would cover any and all usage fees as well as “Associated Student Body” fees. The district made a big deal previously about reducing staff to balance the budget. Yes, they did, but then silently hired all of them back. What was quietly cut was “student” stuff: supplies, curriculum, programs to help students, etc.
Other districts have and are reducing staff but the SKSD never has since the superintendent says, “People come first.” Isn’t this a school district where “student needs come first?”
The levy rhetoric is already starting. If you remember, new board policy states the district and board can only say good things about the district. So, nothing you hear or see will resemble the truth or transparency the superintendent mentions. If it did, then we wouldn’t need a levy because the reduction of at least 230 extra employees would easily eliminate the need for more levy money. All you hear is how poor the district will be if you don’t fund the school district.
No one is against funding the school district if you realize what you are paying for. Do you?
Jeff Daily
Port Orchard
