Sunday’s Letters to the Editor

Contradictory practices

EDITOR: The debit card for my $700 state middle-class tax refund was issued by Monetary Network Customer Service, which is based in South Dakota. Because it charged fees for each transaction, I requested a check instead. My check was issued by a bank located in Alpharetta, Georgia. California bans state-funded travel to 23 states, including South Dakota and Georgia. I think banning travel to other states for policy differences is silly and invites retaliation by states that may respond with identical foolish behavior. But why forbid state and university employees from business travel to half the nation while Sacramento pays hefty fees to financial institutions in those same states to distribute 18 million refund payments totaling about

$10 billion?

CRAIG S. HARRISON

Santa Rosa

Tax credit worth saving

EDITOR: I have done income taxes for low-income filers and seen the value of the child tax

credit. Filing an income tax return is a low-cost way to implement this program for low-income working people with children. It verifies income and who is eligible for this credit.

Republicans want to keep the work requirement but maybe expand how much money can be given to working parents. How about quarterly payments for 50%-75% of the amount potentially due, and then reconcile the amount paid out when parents file their income taxes? Just like with those getting tax subsidies on the health care exchange. Democrats want to expand this to a larger welfare program for nonworking parents, and how to pay for the cost of it always is a question mark.

Here is another opportunity for a bipartisan deal. If Democrats insist on their way instead of negotiating with Republicans and maybe helping working parents with more money and during the calendar year, it dies in Congress.

ANDREW SMITH

Santa Rosa

Trump’s lies

EDITOR: It’s pretty darn petty when you have to come up with “Biden’s lies” (Letters, Dec. 1) compared to those of former President Donald Trump. Whatever happened with the great wall Trump was going to build and have Mexico pay for it? Trump botched that up by spending millions to build a wall. It was never finished, and some has since fallen down. His great friend Stephen Bannon is accused of absconding with money that many Americans donated, supposedly to build the wall.

Is the biggest lie ever that Trump’s reelection was stolen? To this day, Trump continues to deny he lost. His supporters better wake up and stop encouraging this behavior.

When Joe Biden took office, he had to contend with cleaning up the mess Trump created. I could go on and on about the many lies Trump told, but I wouldn’t be able to keep this under the word limit.

Trump was the worst thing that ever happened to this country. My suggestion: If you want to live under undemocratic or authoritarian leadership, move to another country like Russia, China or North Korea.

J.S. BENDER

Santa Rosa

Comparing parties

EDITOR: Huh? That was my reaction to Gene A. Hottel’s letter in which he somehow believes that neither political party cares about helping the American people (“Imagining a party,” Nov. 30). May I suggest that he make a chart with the word “Democrats” on the left and “Republicans” on the right.

Next, list all his altruistic wants and wishes (i.e., “living wage for all,” “affordable universal health care,” equality for everyone “regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender or religion,” etc.). If he does this correctly and accurately, then — ta-da! — he should see that those exact same aims and accomplishments on the Democrats’ side far outweigh those on the Republicans’, the party of no, no can do and no, won’t do.

BOB CANNING

Petaluma

Blaming teachers unions

EDITOR: I take exception to the Dec. 2 editorial from the Orange County Register blaming teachers unions for widespread student learning loss during the pandemic (“Learning loss in state undeniable”). First, this is an utterly simplistic analysis of a complex issue. Next, why are teachers unions presumed to be bad while police, fire and nurses unions are good? Third, vouchers don’t pay enough for students to attend elite academic schools. They do, though, pay enough for many parochial schools that teach a specific point of view. Finally, public education has been starved for decades. Classes are overcrowded, teachers are underpaid and not respected as the professionals they are, and all too often facilities go without maintenance. The proposed solution, vouchers, won’t help, but they will further erode public education. This isn’t what we need. What we need is robust support for public education that supports all students, no matter the property tax base that funds a given district.

ANNE EXTON

Santa Rosa

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.