Collective Foot Shot
Joe Sullivan has produced a superb editorial giving good reasons to support a state income tax ["Pssst! Want to Save Some Money? Support a State Income Tax" Vol. 9, No. 15]. The response to the ideas it advances will provide a good test of my theory that Tennesseans really want to lose at almost anything except perhaps football—that they are so habituated to shooting themselves in their collective foot that they will oppose a progressive tax measure that may actually save most of them some money. It will be interesting to see whether the pleasures of being "agin" an idea will once more outweigh its immediate and long-range advantages.
James E. Gill
Knoxville
Step On the Gas
Though you make a persuasive argument for a state income tax, there really is a more fair tax, which will require NO NEW EXPENDITURES OR BUREAUCRACY to create or oversee, which I would not have to hire an accountant to figure out at tax time. It's completely beyond me why no one is discussing it—maybe it's too simple to even write editorials about!
Need a few extra million in state revenue? Raise the gasoline tax a penny. Want to eliminate grocery and drug taxes? Raise gasoline tax a couple more pennies. Most people won't be paying more taxes overall, and the people who use and abuse gasoline will be paying their fair shares. Somehow, we all managed to survive the horrific rise in gas prices over the past few weeks, so what's another nickel, especially if it brings fairness to the marketplace and relieves some truly burdened consumers?
Experience teaches that any kind of income tax structure will be so filled with loopholes, that only those in the lower income brackets will foot the bill. It will NOT work as your editorial proposes.
Oops, I forgot—the job of the Legislature is to create more government, not less.
Doug Barber
Knoxville
School Board Autonomy
I wish to express my agreement with your editorial in which you call for giving the Knox County School Board budgetary authority ["Unshackling Our Public Schools" by Joe Sullivan, Vol. 9, No. 14]. Having been a school board member in another state, I cannot imagine how board members here can put up with the frustration of learning what is needed to improve public schools, carefully setting priorities, and then having a county government body determine how many dollars can be spent. It makes no sense, and more important, it makes for poor public education.
The first and best step we can take to do better for our kids and grandkids is to follow the example of most of the rest of the country and empower our school board to raise the money they deem necessary. If we don't like the result, if we think they have been irresponsible with our money, we can always vote them out of office. Until and unless that happens, let's give them authority to do their job.
Larry Ratner
Knoxville
Uncredited
While I appreciate Randall Brown's fond remembrance of Unradio ["Radio, Radio," Vol. 9, No. 15] I would just like to make clear that it was never "my" show. I was pleased and honored to be one of the contributors, but I was only one of several, including Cy Anders, Terry Barr, Ashley Capps, Paul Parris, Keith Spurgeon, John Tilson, Jon Wallace, Kristen Young, and others. If Unradio owes its existence to any one person, it would be the indefatigable Mike Dotson, who steered the ship from its first days to its last.
I am sorry but not surprised that many of WUOT's listeners are unhappy with its continued course away from locally-generated programming. I wish the disgruntled luck in effecting their will on the powers that be. May you have more success than we did.
It's kind of funny to hear that people still miss Unradio. Believe me, some of us still miss you too.
Lee Gardner
Baltimore
Ed. Note: Lee is a former Metro Pulse staff writer (and current contributor); he's now the music editor of the Baltimore City Paper.
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