It was Mark Twain who said, “We have the best government that money can buy.” 

Twain being sarcastic. What he was saying is that political influence was heavily driven by wealthy interests rather than the public good. Nothing has changed.

A sales tax, as some Lookout letter writers have argued for, is not the answer. Trump’s favorite president, Ronald Reagan, said the government was spending too much, not that the citizens were undertaxed.

Oregon is ranked as having the sixth highest personal income tax burden in the country. The way I see it, government on all levels has a champagne appetite on a beer salary.

So hear me, the solution is not the sales tax. The solution is to clean house, and this time research who you are voting for. Forget party lines — both parties are to blame.

Economist Milton Friedman said, “When the government spends money, it lacks the care and accountability of an individual spending their own money, leading to wasteful spending.”

Steven E. Hunnicutt
Eugene

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