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Let’s do our part for our service men and women

EDITOR:

We all pay our federal income taxes. We hate to, and we all dread “tax season” every year. When people and corporations don’t pay Income taxes, they haven’t given one cent to support the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Not one cent to support the Central Intelligence Agency. Not one cent to support the National Security Agency. Not one cent to the Department of the Army. Not one cent to the Department of Defense. Not one cent to the Department of the Navy. Not one cent to the Department of Homeland Security to keep us and our kids and grandkids safe. Not even one cent to Traffic and Safety Administration security at our airports. Not one cent to pay for one bullet for one of our soldier’s rifles. Not one cent towards a combat helmet for protection. Not one cent towards a canteen for a thirsty soldier. Not one cent towards one gallon of aviation fuel used to get Osama Bin Laden. Not one cent towards the Navy Seals critical night vision goggles used to get him. Not one cent for a roll of gauze to wrap a wounded Marine’s wound. Not one cent for a tourniquet to stanch the bleeding. Not one cent towards an IV bag to keep a wounded soldier or sailor alive on their way to a field hospital. Not one cent towards a shot of morphine in the helicopter or even a syringe to administer it. Not one cent towards the cost of a life-sustaining unit of blood when they get to the field hospital. Not one cent to support Walter Reed Army Hospital or any of the other Veterans Administration’s hospitals. Not one cent towards rehabilitation of a wounded veteran. Not one cent towards a prosthetic leg or arm. Not one cent for caring for a soldier in a burn unit. Not one cent for assisting a veteran with post-traumatic stress. Not one cent towards an American flag draping one of our fallen’s casket. Not one penny for the operations at Arlington National Cemetery or any other military cemetery in our country. And not even one cent towards one gallon of fuel to fly the bodies of our dead heroes home for burial. Not even one dollar. Not one cent.

It is now time to hold the potential and existing office holder’s feet to the fire to pay their share. Now is the time to deliver ultimatums to re-write the deplorable tax codes ASAP and eliminate tax break “gifts” to corporations. And, it’s time to hold the rich and famous accountable as well, and any neighbor who brags about “getting off” with the IRS. If you owe, you pay, it’s as simple as that.

It’s not okay to shirk this responsibility. Our entire infrastructure is depending on those funds.

Gerry Niedermaier

Gladstone

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