To the Editor:
The biggest problem with taxes is our failure to realize what a privilege it is to pay them. Living in the comfort and safety of our democracy is ample reward for filing your 1040.
Yet the common perception is that all taxes are bad and must be avoided. Because of that, the tax structure is complicated and opaque, and often unfair.
When Amazon is promised tax breaks to relocate, it’s as good as a tax hike for the rest of us. When taxes are shifted from income to consumption, the burden accrues unfairly to people with lower incomes. Five percent on a new washing machine makes a big difference to a minimum wage earner, not so much to Jeff Bezos.
Because of arcane rules, Jeffie pays less in taxes than your average Mountaire worker. Because of truly bizarre rules, Ron Cameron, Mountaire’s owner and 7th-richest Arkansan, gets us to pay for The Wall while he profits from undocumented workers who avoid it.
So don’t talk to me about “supply side.” Talk to me about responsibility, transparency, thrift, empathy and kindness.
W.C. Reed
Pittsboro
Editor’s note: a spokesman for the company told the News + Record that “Mountaire Farms strictly adheres to all federal laws when it comes to hiring practices and uses the E-Verify system for all new hires.”