Letters for Dec. 31: Keep the local vehicle tax; it spreads out the tax burden

Re “ ” (Dec. 20): I am a Republican and supporter of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, but he, like any other politician, can come up with a bad idea that sounds great.

Abolishing the “car tax” localities levy on vehicles sounds like a great idea, right? But here is why it is actually a very bad idea. The personal property tax on vehicles is paid to the locality by everyone who owns a vehicle, and that’s almost everyone including people who do not own a home. Most homeowners are middle class workers.

If the personal property tax on vehicles is abolished, localities must make up that money by raising the real estate tax on homes. That takes a tax that almost everyone pays and places the entire burden on the middle class homeowner. Again the middle class gets the shaft.

I implore Republican and Democratic legislators to oppose this proposal in a bipartisan fashion. Let a tax that spreads the tax burden out to most citizens continue as it is. Because our general citizenry is ill-informed, we have a Rodney Dangerfield economy — it gets no respect.

In the past two to three years, what country in the world has a better economy than ours? Travel outside our country to get a taste of how good we have it. Taiwan, home of the famous Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company chip-making company, is one country that might best the United States in some areas. But go across the strait to China, and you will see a deteriorating real estate sector, a loss of foreign direct investment and big-time unemployment for young folks.

India is growing faster than us but has higher inflation and interest rates. American houses and caloric intake are among the largest in the world, yet we save less than other major economies. The American economy during COVID-19 was probably one of the better off ones in the world because we pumped a lot of money into each citizen’s wallet, notwithstanding the inflation it may have caused.

Consumers complain about inflation, but gas prices in Europe are higher. We have full employment, a robust stock market, a growing GDP and a falling inflation rate. We are also a net energy exporter, and we are on track to extracted more oil than Saudi Arabia this year.

Voters, give our economy the credit it deserves. Re “ ” (Your Views, Dec. 24): The writer from Smithfield, who called the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the presidential primary ballot an innovative move by Democrats, may be a political operative or a citizen who is putting out disinformation to prey on the uniformed.

The plaintiffs in the case about the 14th Amendment in Colorado were Republican or unaffiliated voters, not Democrats. The Colorado Supreme Court did not “suddenly imagine” it can decide who can be on the ballot in Colorado. The U.

S. Constitution sets up who is eligible, i. e.

, a natural born citizen who is at least 35 years old. The states, for the most part, decide how the election is carried out. The Colorado decision was put on hold, most likely pending the U.

S. Supreme Court’s decision. Perhaps the Supreme Court as a conservative-leaning court would default to states’ rights.

Letting the Colorado Supreme Court decision stand is traditionally a Republican position, aka letting Colorado decided for itself. .