Let our legislators do their jobs – dump TABOR

Many have discussions pro and con about TABOR (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights). Those who want it believe the state wastes money on silly things like food for children, health care for the poor, education for all children, highway maintenance, state patrol, prisons, voting infrastructure, state park maintenance, enforcing environmental, civil, and criminal laws, etc. Many live in rural areas and complain the state isn’t giving their schools enough money – they simply don’t want to pay taxes, just use the taxes others pay.

Those who feel TABOR limits legislators from meeting their state’s constitutional obligations due to a constant shortage of funds, want all state obligations to be adequately funded.

TABOR was created in the mind of a man who was a brutish criminal, convicted of tax evasion and filing a false tax return. He was also censured by the legislature for kicking a news photographer: I believe that’s called assault.

Any thinking person knows a flat tax is a regressive tax. Individuals with incomes below $100,000 are unlikely to benefit from a federal income deduction of state income taxes paid, while high-income people get their state income taxes subsidized by the federal government. A graduated tax evens it out a bit and effectively transfers federal dollars to the state’s treasury.

Mandell S. Winter Jr., Denver

Cooperation, checks and balances are the solutions to our cultural clash

The recent tragedies in Minneapolis have become a constitutional crisis. Extreme thinking and behavior have escalated a cultural clash. We need to work on intergovernmental cooperation and take a long step away from politics as usual.

Based on the video footage, many people believe there should be a murder charge in the death of Alex Pretti. But outrage does not change the supremacy clause of the Constitution or define peaceful protest. Local authorities have no more jurisdictional authority to remove federal agencies from states than the president has to pardon state offenders. This matters because the force of government power is not going away and needs to be restrained with checks and balances.

The constant blaming, labelling, discrediting, and maligning of government service is not going to solve anything. The left targets law enforcement and the right targets every other branch of government.

Government and law enforcement are turning against each other and looking for solutions to problems that can only be managed, not solved.

And why? Because people cannot agree on what the problem is. Both the public and government officials are making up their own definition of the word ‘illegal” and cannot even agree on who is law enforcement. This has increased disrespect for government and endangered law enforcement and the public.

Immigration reform will help everybody and help avoid economic disaster.

Consider the fact that misplaced rage and words and phrases like Gestapo, thug, defund the police, goon, criminal, scumbag, even small government, are powerful and pervasive. Their immediate impact is not as deadly as a bullet, but has certainly helped create the authoritarian leadership we have now.