Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

The Your Views letter written by Mark Laurora and printed in the May 15 Manteca Bulletin was one of the best I have recently read.

He kept a head on his shoulders and called it as it is. His accuracy is 100% in my book. We keep having taxes raised every time a member of the Senate, Congress, and what other department of the government desires some money to do something with.

We ate their farce about Lotto helping our schools etc. What a lie! What little the schools get doesn’t amount to enough for them to do anything with, and the stipulations are so cut and dried that the schools don’t get to use any of it.

Mr. Laurora suggested we ask the government why they need to spend so much, most of which is nonsense anyway. We wouldn’t get a straight answer anyway, as they don’t know. They form committees and go out to those 2- and 3-martini lunches to discuss what they should ask for, and what to do with it when they get it.

Recently I was watching news report where a reporter was asking people leaving the Capital, why they were renting such high-priced cars. Some of the vehicles were $1,500 per month, and most were in the $700 to $900 per month category. When they answered, it was something like this, “Well my job requires a car, and says if I need to rent one, I can, it doesn’t say for how much, and what kind to get, so I rented one!”

 As for taxing the high earners, that is a bunch of garbage talk, they allow the oil companies to take a 14% tax break off the top of their gross before they even start working through all the legal loopholes. (They don’t do that for the average citizen do they?)

Taxing the larger wage earners 30% is hog wash. We as average wage earners pay 37%, now go figure.

I read an article that listed over 120 departments of our government that I have never heard of in my 73 years on earth. Some sounded as important as, “Aunt Julie’s grandson needs work, let’s create an office for him.” He will need an up-to-date computer, printer, fax phone, overhead lights, an oak desk with a chair suitable for taking a nap when he gets tired from sitting over whatever comes by his Do-Nothing-Job. It needs heat, a safe, file cabinets, water cooler, microwave, coffee pot, bathroom with a shower, etc.

My thought is this, if we did away with the 120 or so offices that no one has ever used, most of which never heard of, our budget would almost balance itself out.

Lastly, we are close, but not yet there. When we are trying to balance our California budget, why don’t we take away a day’s pay from each member, for every day they run past the deadline, trying to approve a budget? I’ll bet it would be balanced pronto.



Ray Carter
Manteca
May 15, 2012