Let’s go to Washington!
To the high school students of South Hadley, please do not think that your parents and community “don’t value education, community and empathy.” Voters on both sides of the tax override debate love you dearly and want the best future for you. It’s the Congress, the president, and his flunkies who don’t value you and your education. They are the ones taking the hard-earned money out of your parents’ pockets, money that should be funding your sports, extracurriculars and advanced placement classes.
Your parents filed their federal income tax by yesterday’s deadline. The average taxpayer paid $4,049 for war and weapons, but just $637 for education. According to the National Priorities Project “instead of investing in programs that help people make ends meet, the president and his friends in Congress passed a Big Ugly Bill that cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, cut health insurance and food assistance for millions of Americans, and added billions in new spending for war and mass deportations.”
Discretionary spending is the portion of the budget that the president requests and Congress appropriate every year. Last year $895 billion went to the War Department and just $120 billion to education, training, employment and social services. Next year the president wants a 50% increase in the military budget.
Ask you parents how much their medical insurance costs increased last year. Who took that money out of their pockets? Their doctor? Or perhaps their insurance companies? Ask them what percentage of their income did they pay in taxes? Compare that rate to the taxes paid by the richest 1% of Americans and the largest corporations who pay close to zero taxes.
How about organizing a bus trip to stage a mass rally in front of the Capital? Send a message to the people who really don’t care about your education or funding your future.
Keith Davis
South Hadley