Maybe we should blow it all up
Once again, Sen. Bill DeMora criticizes (and rightly so) the party in power on property taxes but then says his party has “real” solutions that are “ready to go.”
On the surface, ideas such as “doubling tax relief for seniors, freezing taxes for people on fixed incomes and capping property taxes so nobody pays more than 5% of their income” sound fantastic. In reality, they are not solutions at all.
Why?
Because they do nothing to address the spending side of the equation.
If the teachers’ union contracts demand 6%-8% salary increases every year and nothing is done to curb them, then the legislators (no matter which party) will have to come up with yet another tax to cover it. Westerville, for example, now wants an income tax to cover their levy fatigue.
Is that a solution to the spending problem?
Letters: More Ohioans are losing their homes. Property taxes should be capped
And, yes, I agree that giving tax breaks to dying companies or, worse yet, sports arenas is simply flushing money down the toilet. But that is a separate issue and DeMora uses it to distract us from the more germane ones such as; do the teachers unions (such as the OEA, NEA and AFT) political and financial support favor Democrats or Republicans?
The answer is Democrats, by a wide margin. Now ask yourself: why?
Jan 24, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, United States; Ohio State Senator William P. DeMora of the 25th District speaks during a debate on whether or not to override Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68.
Please Sen. DeMora, be honest in your approach to this and I predict that you will get reelected in a landslide. Otherwise, it looks like the voters of Ohio will detonate the whole system.
Maybe starting over is a good thing…
John Herrington, Columbus
Gerrymandering empowers extremists
Let’s say that the party in total control in Texas and Ohio, and then in retaliation, the opposite party in total control in New York and California, gerrymander their opposition into oblivion, such that only extreme members of both parties can win a primary (en route to a meaningless general election landslide).
Those left with no voice in America will be the many (and likely the majority of) citizens that are moderates in both parties.
The result will be a further widening of the ideological chasm currently dividing and having a destructive effect on our great country.
Both parties must find ways to create fair elections, not ways to tilt the table in their respective favor. Gerrymandering is vitiating the entire concept of voting and democracy.
Bob Behal, Bexley
No room for Canada’s smoke
For the last several months residents of central Ohio, not to mention most of the northern/eastern U.S., have been coughing their way through clouds of haze created by wildfires blazing away in Canada.
I, for one, am confused and outraged by the total lack of action on the part of the Trump administration to address the serious health risk this smoke poses for Americans, particularly the elderly and those dealing with chronic respiratory issues.
I eagerly await President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will build a “big, beautiful wall” across the entire length of the U.S.-Canadian border to protect us from the hordes of smoke invading our northern border and endangering the lives of American citizens.
The “big, beautiful wall” will no doubt be patrolled by thousands of masked U.S. border/military personnel, all committed to protecting us from all that deadly smoke and haze.
Most likely, any of the deadly smoke and haze apprehended by those border guards will be immediately incarcerated in Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz.”
More: First glimpses of fall 2025 forecast warn of high temperatures across USA
I have no doubt, of course, that Trump will reassure us that the cost of constructing that “big, beautiful wall” will be completely paid for by Canada.
Donn Smith, Marysville
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Neither Ohio Dems or GOP have a solution to property taxes | Letters
