Letter to the Editor

Sandy Thatcher Jarvis, Austin

For crying out loud!

Two percent of Minnesotans are ruling the other 98? It doesn’t sound like democracy to me.

Our Governor was elected on a “tax the rich” message. The “no new taxes” idea is a farce because property taxes will have to go up in order to keep vital services going here in rural Minnesota when LGA is cut even further.

But, because the Republicans refuse to tax the really rich, state government is going to be shut down, putting people out of jobs (isn’t job creation a goal?), shutting down most state park services (isn’t the tourist industry important to Minnesota?), cutting off services to the vulnerable (is there no compassion) and more.

If we were asking the really rich to pay a bigger share than the rest of us 98 percent did, I could understand the refusal; but they now pay a smaller percentage than we do.

If all of the Republicans are themselves in the top 2 percent tax bracket, I can understand their protecting their own pocketbook.

If all those against raising taxes on the top 2 percent tax bracket are still campaigning for the big campaign contributions from those top 2 percent, I understand and I’m disgusted. I know that we have let running for office become way too expensive, but us 98 percent have the right to expect some representation, some responsible governing.