As I have listened to friends and family on both sides of the political divide I learned we have some things in common.
- We live on our salaries, pay our bills, balance our checkbooks and pay off loans.
- We don’t mind paying taxes along with other citizens, for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, schools, fire and police departments, road repair and cleaning up our environment.
- We like clean houses, mowed lawns or some version of order in our lives.
- It’s hard to understand if Citizens United, a law that made corporations the same as a person, like us, why they don’t pay their fair share of taxes. They certainly use the roads and infrastructure, natural resources and amenities of the society, as do we all.
- We believe that paying taxes, along with other fellow citizens, is the contribution we all make to a civil society.
I believe that corporations and other “persons” must also take responsibility for the care and maintenance of this country we call home. If we all paid our fair share, statistics show we could provide health care for all people, using Medicare as a useful model. This would give corporations big and small relief from the pressure to provide health insurance for employees. Perhaps this might be better than a tax break.
It’s time for common sense in Washington and common goals for the common good, not just the privileged few.
Jean A. Christensen
Bemidji
