Letters to the editor

Grounds for funding

Buy a latte grande for the future doctor or fire fighter

Editor, The Times:

How shortsighted of The Times to suggest that the only ones who benefit from early childhood education are the parents of kids who are under 5 years old today! ("The sin of espresso," editorial, June 5.) The only ones who benefit from Social Security today are those over age 65, but we all realize the utility of having current workers pay into a system that keeps our nation's elderly out of poverty and will provide the bulk of our retirement income once we reach age 65.

In the same way, we should recognize the importance of investing a little bit today to ensure that the kids who are our future teachers, fire fighters, scientists and doctors have a solid start in life.

Since the voters and lawmakers of this state have been unable to commit to adequately funding early childhood education — child-care teachers earn close to the minimum wage and even two-parent working families struggle to pay for child care — then bravo to those who have found a creative way to do it for our city with the espresso tax.

I would surely pay an extra 10 cents per latte to give kids a leg up, and I'd pay a lot more to ensure that our state had a dedicated stream of revenue for early childhood education.
- Rebecca Kavoussi, Seattle

Self-help tax

Oh, but The Times missed the main point of the espresso tax. The people pushing the tax will directly benefit from the tax. The chairman of the "Early Learning and Care Committee" is the director of a child-care business. They are just copying a page out of the Washington Education Association's play book.

Pretty creative how these people have figured out how to use initiatives to enrich themselves. But it's for the children. Fool!

Yes, he is the director of a "not-for-profit" business. That means the business avoids paying federal income tax by converting all revenue above expenses (profit) into salary for the principals of the business.
- Robert Wheeldon, Seattle

From top to bottom

This is just amazing. Where do these ideas come from? Taxing lattes. Let's see what the X-Tax Team comes up with next. Rumor has it these are just a few they are considering.

• A 5-cent tax on each e-mail sent and a 2-cent tax on each e-mail received;

• A traffic-light tax. Cars will be equipped with an electronic counter and will log each time a car goes through a traffic light, then be billed 2 cents for each light gone through;

• A corporate goodwill tax. Each registered company in the region will pay a tax to fund the overall government goodwill projects of the area. Estimated cost by employee count, times net income constant, divided by economic index;

• A grass-clippings tax. Homeowners will be charged an annual rate based on the approximated amount of times they cut grass that is picked up for removal. All homeowners will be billed equally regardless of whether you mulch, mow or collect clippings;

• A 5-cent-per-box tax on clothes detergents sold;

• A pet-ownership tax. Seen as a luxury tax as not all people can or do own a pet. A $25-a-year fee;

• All registered cell phones will be taxed at a rate of $10 a year for recharging fees, for excess energy use;

• Tourist-mitigation fee. All privately owned attractions will be charged a fee per visitor to mitigate costs associated with local usage of infrastructure. Cost estimated at $2 per visitor per visit;

• A toilet-paper tax. A 5-cent-per-roll tax.
- Art Francis, Issaquah

Books shelved

No. 1 list

The recent student "protest" brought to the attention of everyone the latest dilemma for our society ("Students protest lack of textbooks," Local News, May 31). Let's see, we had a student "protest" that turned out to be an excuse to vandalize a store; a teacher who is "forced" to break the law and make copies of a copyrighted text book; a school administration that had to make budget cuts while faced with increasing demands on the schools resources; and a government that must provide services during a less-robust economy.

So who is the villain? The students who held a needed protest, but attracted some punks? The teacher who valued providing top-notch education to his students? It seems to me the villain has to be the School Board, which should say "With limited resources, these are our school's priorities... " It seems text books would be very high on the list as they affect all the students' education.
- Michael McCadden, Green Lake

On the budget rack

Regarding "Help Rainier Beach" (editorial, May 31), about not enough schoolbooks for students, let me offer possible solutions. Students could share books. We did when I was in school. Students could buy their own books. I wondered, as I read the editorial, how many students have cable TV, personal computers for e-mailing their friends and downloading mp3 music, and cell phones.

Students unwilling to make a sacrifice or two get no sympathy from me. I went to a private high school in Seattle and had to pay my own tuition and buy my own books. True, the school district is supposed to furnish these things, but we are talking about another bureaucracy here, one that complains constantly of shortages and "outdated" textbooks. How can math, English, spelling, or reading books ever be out of date? Is there new information about geometry, algebra, grammar, etc., etc., that has changed in the past 20 to 50 years?

Gimme a break. Students who want to learn, who have had learning instilled in them from first grade on, will find a way. Teach the students to learn.
- Anthony Yadrick, Seattle

Rescuing costs

High priorities

Senior citizens all over the country, armed with government or private medical insurance, regularly drive themselves and each other to hospital emergency rooms. They would rather risk death than be faced with a $1,000 ambulance bill that may not be fully covered.

On the other side of the spectrum, every adventurous skier, hiker and mountain climber with a cell phone seems to have unlimited helicopter search-and-rescue benefits, along with film at 11. ("Bearing the costs of rescues," Local News, June 2.) I am sure there is a reasonable explanation for this. I am not sure that I want to hear it.
- Phil Gravitt, San Francisco, Calif.

Editing oddities

Understood

In "Bellevue steps up" (editorial, June 7), one of your editorialists wrote, "Over 900 people showed up for yesterday's annual Bellevue School Foundation lunch... " The only thing over those 900 school supporters was, presumably, a roof. I'm sure you meant to use the grammatically correct "more than."
- Chris Philips, editor, Pacific Maritime Magazine, Seattle

Gargling splinters

I knew there were problems in Golden Gardens, but wasn't aware of their seriousness until I read "Clean up Golden Gardens for safety and families" (editorial, June 4). Apparently, people are "drinking and burning treated wood... " Ouch! Bring back the serial comma!
- Bette Murphy, Bellevue