Americans should have skin in game
The Republican Congress couldn't get rid of Obamacare, and now it's going to tackle tax cuts.
Trump's proposal is to lower the tax rates to 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. Also, the proposal is to double the personal deduction to $12,000 for individual and $24,000 for family.
You've probably read or heard that 47 percent of households pay no federal income tax.
This tax relief for the middle class will increase the number of people not paying federal income tax. This is ridiculous. It's not right that working Americans pay nothing to support the federal government. Yet they have no skin in the game.
They can't go to Walmart to buy a pair of shoes and claim to the cashier that they don't make enough to pay the sales tax. They can't go to a movie and expect to get in free because they don't make enough. They can't tell the county tax office that they shouldn't pay their property tax.
So why should they get a free pass in helping to support the federal government to pay for the military and other federal expenses? They shouldn't.
Get some skin in the game.
Gary Hayes, Ooltewah
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We need rational, sensitive politics
I am deeply saddened and troubled about what is happening in my country, to my fellow citizens and myself.
I am not referring to my local community, or even the state for the most part, where I see numerous efforts to treat and relate to each other in a more positive, respectful and civil way.
I am, of course, referring to our federal government and the flailing efforts of Congress to be or do much more than current partisan reframing.
It seems to me the ringleader of all of this dysfunction is President Donald Trump.
Many serious issues in the United States have been here all along, becoming more prominent following the last presidential election.
I suppose presidential elections are inclined to highlight a number of national issues that have been pushed under the carpet for too long, but when did this include whether voters were patriotic depending on who they voted for?
National politics may have always been a contact sport, but now it seems more abrasive and disrespectful than I can recall in my lifetime.
And less rational, sensitive and sensible.
Becky Young, Signal Mountain
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Of pledges, anthems and the Civil War
All of this discussion of NFL players and coaches kneeling or refusing to participate in the national anthem reminds me of something I experienced in childhood.
When I was in the fifth grade, we always pledged allegiance to the flag at the start of the day. I noticed the boy next to me never participated. I asked him, "Why?" He said that he supported the South in the Civil War, so he would not participate in the ceremony.
Our class passed on to the sixth grade, but I never saw this boy again.
Lindsay H. Bennett Jr.