Letters July 21

Colfax

Restrooms

One of our great joys is to drive around the Palouse and sometimes beyond. One of the things that we discovered is that a number of the small communities that we visited had “rest areas.” Most of the time these areas were concentered right in the middle of town, for example, Tekoa and Palouse. In an opposite direction we stopped in the downtowns of Pomeroy and Sisters, Ore. all of these areas had grass, a community bulletin board of what’s happening, picnic tables and a trash can and, of course restrooms that were clean, well maintained and, what’s the word, inviting. Some had security cameras installed outside and yes, even lights.

Instead of porta potties for next Concrete River Days how about our own rest stop at the Codger Pole. It is already equipped with an historic statue, beautiful and well tended flowers, grass and decorative walkway. I do know for a fact that this would be a welcome sign for all who are passing through to stop and find out more about the beautiful Downtown Colfax.

Jack McBride,

The Taiwan Way

Want to erase U.S. debt and still fund new, effective programs? Then tax the Taiwan way. I recently witnessed first-hand Taiwan’s thriving economy. Besides capital gains tax, each Taiwan stock trade is assessed a 0.3% transaction tax and the top income bracket is taxed at 45 percent--versus our 39.6 percent that Republicans strive to reduce. Transaction tax may be the fairest mode of taxation since it is assessed on those sufficiently wealthy to trade stocks for “unearned income”– income from no productive work. But Oregon Democratic U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio’s proposed smaller 0.03% transaction tax is strongly opposed by Republicans.

This equitable Taiwan taxation system doesn’t affect their work ethic. My son, who has worked in over 40 countries worldwide, describes Taiwanese as the hardest working. Interestingly, Taiwan also enjoys single-payer health care modeled after Canada’s.

How might transaction tax funding be relevant locally? Although Blessings Under the Bridge is a very well-organized, caring program feeding Spokane’s homeless, wouldn’t it be better to have government-funded living wage jobs for these people? For example, they could repair our country’s aging and deteriorating infrastructure, as frequently proposed by President Obama. But again that faces opposition from Republicans, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Norm Luther,

Spokane

Back Pakootas

The ballots are in the mail, and kindly cast your vote for Joe Pakootas for the U. S. Congress, House of Representatives.

Joe is a true leader. He managed the bankrupt Colville Confederated Tribes as a new CEO and created a $10,000,000 turnaround in a short time. Joe is a true leader and not a poser as our currently "do Nothing but Pose" representative does.

Joe Pakootas desires to rebuild our nation's crumbling infrastructure and create greater opportunities for our agriculture industry. He will fight to strengthen Medicare and Veteran's Benefits. The number of homeless veterans who reside in our congressional district appalls him.

Joe is running for Congress because he believes women, minorities and middle class American need a voice in Congress.

Donald C. Orlich,

Pullman