Letters on sales-tax referendum, Andover sales tax, Ebola and ISIS, least of these

Use sales tax to pay for water plan

I’m a small-business owner with a retail shop and a production facility in Wichita. I love being a Wichitan and am so thankful for this community.

I cannot imagine what 50 percent higher water rates would do to our businesses in Wichita and to our people, which is what could happen if we don’t vote to increase the sales tax (Oct. 12 Eagle). Nobody likes to pay taxes, but water is essential, and our choices on how to pay for it are through much higher water rates or with a sales tax that people from other towns would also pay.

Other communities from small to big have successfully used a sales tax to fund lots of different items. Wichita is the only larger city in Kansas that hasn’t.

We chose these priorities, and we told the city that we’d rather pay for them through a sales tax than with higher property taxes.

Let’s vote “yes” so we won’t increase our water rates by half.

Vote ‘no’ on tax

Get out and vote “no” on the 1-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 4 ballot.

If you’re like most hardworking citizens, you’re tired of the government taking more and more of our money. And for what? Officials say streets and repairs, busing, a water plan and job growth. These four things together they feel necessitate a 1-cent sales tax increase for five years, which will generate about $400 million. What exactly would we be getting for our money? Who is going to sit on the committee that will be spending this money and making the decisions for us?

Maybe you have more money than you know what to do with and are willing to just hand over more to a group that hasn’t come forth with a clear-cut plan. I, on the other hand, choose to vote “no.”

Advance Andover

On Nov. 4, Andover residents will have the opportunity to vote for a 1 percent sales tax to be used for lowering property taxes and funding long-range capital improvements. For years, Andover city councils have deferred making some needed long-term capital improvements to avoid raising property taxes. The sales tax would be used for reducing property taxes and making improvements to non-revenue-producing functions, such as street maintenance facilities, park improvements, and police and fire facility improvements.

The sales tax would put Andover on par with the sales tax of other communities in the area. It would allow visitors to help pay for facilities that benefit them, just as Andover residents help other cities by paying their sales taxes when visiting their cities.

The ballot issue dedicates at least 25 percent of the sales tax revenue for reducing property taxes, which last year would have reduced residential property taxes $47 for every $100,000 in valuation. A “yes” vote will advance Andover.

Combined threat

Ebola and ISIS have something in common. President Obama underestimated the threat that each poses. The combined threat hasn’t been underestimated; it hasn’t even been discussed.

Ebola made its way into the United States without anyone intentionally trying to infect our country, and the government is now desperately trying to stick its fingers in the leaky dike of border protection through which it passed. The problem is that its work is based on preventing additional unintended spread of the disease.

What has been done to address the threat of an orchestrated infiltration of Ebola into the U.S.? What prevents ISIS or another group from using Ebola as a poor man’s biological weapon?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admits that their airport screenings will not reduce the threat to zero, and their protocol is focused on preventing the unintentional spread of the virus. No one is talking about preventing a coordinated assault.

We cannot afford to underestimate this threat. Our enemies are creative and have the will to execute. All it takes is a terrorist intentionally infecting himself with Ebola, traveling to the U.S. during the two- to 21-day incubation period before he shows any symptoms, and circulating in the U.S. once he has become contagious.

Planned neglect

For those of us who call ourselves “Christians,” there is, I believe, one overriding issue in this election. David P. Rundle succinctly described it (“KanCare experiment is costly for disabled,” Oct. 12 Opinion). How do we treat the most needy?

The Brownback administration is cruel in its planned neglect. Jesus in Matthew 25 describes the last judgment, stating that whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Him, and if you do not aid the least, He does not know you. We ignore this at our ultimate peril.

As one who has been long active in mental health, I can tell you that the defunding of care for these people has been devastating, compounded by huge tax cuts and refunds to the richest Kansans.

Please, in honesty, do not call yourself “Christian” if you do not recognize this and vote accordingly.

This story was originally published October 14, 2014 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Letters on sales-tax referendum, Andover sales tax, Ebola and ISIS, least of these."