Letters to the Editor, Opinion Thanks, Herrera Beutler, for supporting tax plan
Talks of tax cuts have dominated media coverage on a national stage for the last few weeks. The House and Senate were finally able to pass tax legislation seeking to boost the economy and bring more money back into the hands of the hardworking taxpayer.
There have been many reports that the bills solely seek to benefit corporations. The plan does indeed slim down the tax code for businesses from the world’s highest rate of 35 percent to a competitive 20 percent. However, the bill also provides middle-class Americans with doubles in both the standard deduction and the child tax credit, as well as lowering the individual rates.
The culmination of these benefits in the proposed bills will foster economic growth through job creation and global competition. In a recent press release, our Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler “announced her support for the U.S. House’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will allow residents across Southwest Washington to keep more of their money and earn bigger paychecks.” She also argued that, “as a result of this tax cut plan, most residents will keep more of their money, paychecks will be bigger, and we’ll have nearly 20,000 new jobs in Washington alone.”
Thank you, Representative Herrera Beutler, for your commitment to the final passage of tax reform to benefit hardworking Washington families. I look forward to your supportive vote.
Brook Pell, Camas
Global trade pacts play role in mill closures
Why lay off 280 employees at the Camas Paper mill? Costly paid sick leave? Less printing due to cell phones? USA’s environmental regulations? It is the cheap labor in China, Russia, India and Indonesia and the environmental regulations. No amount of “wooing” local politicians can level a playing field where a worker is paid $1 a day overseas vs. $28 an hour (here) and there are no regulations protecting air, water, land or humans. Current trade pacts enable and encourage moving mills overseas by banning tariffs that used to “level” the playing field between foreign and U.S. products. But, no more. Sigh.
Barb Rider, Camas
