Sales taxes aren't the only answer to funding

Some comments on Frank Watson’s 8-16-18 opinion piece. In the article he stated: “Schools receive most of their income from real estate taxes.

Those in the district who own homes are taxed while those who rent are not.” He continued “I may have missed something but the rich guy who owns the apartment building is taxed while the tenants are not.”

That statement makes it sound like renters get off tax free. That’s not the truth. True, the tenants are not taxed directly, but they pay through their rent. Rents are high because they must cover the tax as well as other things.

On my house, I pay the tax, it’s in the budget. I pay the insurance, it’s in the budget. If I put in a new kitchen floor, I must budget for that.

A landlord sets the rent to cover those items, but he can deduct them as business expense and makes his profit. I can’t deduct those items nor can the renter.

Another point Watson made is “The foundation piece of our tax system is sales tax. If both rich and poor spend their income the tax burden should be proportionate to their respective incomes.”

If they spent all their incomes! The poor and many middle class must spend it all to survive. But the rich may have $10,00, $50,000 or $100,000 extra dollars they don’t need to spend. They use it for investments, savings and many other things that are not covered by sales tax.

Sales tax may be an easy answer to taxes, but it’s not the complete answer.

Ralph D. Laws

Cheney