Think about merit-based tax breaks
The recent focus on taxing and punishing the “rich” is becoming absurd. [“Gates Sr. pushes for state income tax on wealthy,” page one, April 21.]
I was raised poor and believed that hard work, an education and looking for ways to serve rather than be served would get me ahead.
I would like to propose a tax plan based on the fact that we get more of whatever behavior we reward. It starts with a 50 percent income tax rate for everyone on every dollar, regardless of the source; investments, wages, tips, unemployment and insurance — they are all the same.
From 50 percent, we start reducing tax liability based on what individuals have done that is good for our society. High-school graduates shed a few percent. College graduates drop another couple of points for each successive degree. People buying a home have more points eliminated, and more when the house is paid off.
A great credit score should earn a rate reduction, as would owning a business that employs people and having a clean police record. Necessary and noble professions such as teachers and military would are also see a rate reduction.
There must be incentives for living in a way that is a benefit to society rather than a burden, a model where education, hard work, and staying out of trouble are rewarded.
There will always be people who need help improving their lot in life and they should be assisted to make the transition from a high tax life to a life that is less taxing on everyone —including themselves.
— Matt Jackson, Mukilteo
‘Make it easy to rope a bull, it’s no problem to rope a calf’
Well we’re at it again: A new attempt at a state income tax is being foisted on the public.
My father told me a story one time when I was a teenager about a conversation he had with his father when he was a teenager. Congress was passing the 16th Amendment, the Income Tax Law.
He told his father: “I don’t see anything wrong with it, it is only going to tax those rich people making over $5,000 a year.”
At that time, the average yearly income for most working people was less than $500 or $600 a year. His father looked at him, smiled, and said, “If you make it easy to rope a bull, it’s no problem to rope a calf.” The 16th Amendment was ratified Feb. 3, 1913.
How long after passage of this bill in Olympia will it take to lower the level at which the tax is applied to the rest of us?
— Ernest Altice, Ellensburg
Extremophiles microbes: They’re tougher than you. Scientists have found microorganisms living in the ultra-dry Atacama desert, 
