To the Editor:
Why is it, when you are having a really, really bad day, when your daughter, recently graduated from college and working at a starter job with no benefits, gets T-boned and it is going to cost $100,000 to put her back together; when your wife, who has type-1 diabetes and works at a big box store, has her toes rotting off and is going blind because the chintzy insurance offered by the store denies her coverage; when you have been “downsized” into an $8 per hour job with no health insurance after 30 years and have just learned that you have colon cancer . . .
Why is it that you have to put up with busybodies who sneer that “you should have taken better care of yourself”; that radio loonies scream “nazi medicine” and “death panels”; that 25 percent of your private insurance premium is consumed by the company itself (it is 5 percent for medicare!); that you wait months for specialists who charge you $1,000 for 15 minutes of their precious time; that your friends and neighbors have to run bake sales (bless their hearts!) that cover maybe 1 percent of your bills?
Why is it that your brother in Canada and your uncle in France and your poor cousin in Costa Rica just go to the doctor when they are sick and don’t worry about being driven bankrupt?
Are you terrified that a medical problem will turn into a financial catastrophe? Then you need to tell Senator Jeff Bingaman (1-800-443-8658), Senator Tom Udall (1-505-346-6791), and Rep. Harry Teague (835-8919) to bring our health care system
up to the standards of the civilized world.
Time is short and big money and the fear mongers are winning the battle for peoples’ minds and Congress’s votes. Don’t let them succeed!
Dave Raymond
Socorro
Catron Animal Group Thanks Supporters
To the Editor:
Fur and Feather Animal Assistance would like to thank all those who supported us in our second annual fund raiser at Jackson Park, Pie Town. We welcomed many of you who joined us in music, food, raffles, dancing and activities.
We especially thank Gerald and Bethane O’ Connell without whom our fund raiser would not have been possible. A special thank you goes to Ken and Sharon Bostick, Cathy and Gary Acord, Stephanie Randolph, Anne Sullivan, and Bob and Elaine Smith. We also thank the two bands that graciously gave of their time - the “Misfits’ and “Los Ladrones”.
Thank you one and all,
Laurie Beauchamp
Fur and Feather Animal Assistance
Shop Local, Help Keep Taxes Low
To the Editor:
New Mexico does not have a sales tax. It has a gross receipts tax instead. This tax is imposed on persons engaged in business in New Mexico, but in almost every case the person engaged in business passes the tax to the consumer. In that way the gross receipts tax resembles a sales tax.
Gross receipt taxes are extremely important to our community. The County of Socorro receives only $40,000 a month and our City of Socorro’s General Fund Budget is comprised of about 55% gross receipts taxes. These gross receipt taxes are distributed and or assist with police and fire protection, park and recreation, street improvements, beautification projects, senior citizen and youth programs and much more.
As important as the tax is to our community, our two governing bodies have kept Socorro County’s and City’s tax rates lower than our neighboring counties and municipalities. The tax in the County of Socorro is 5.8125% and in the City of Socorro the tax is 6.875%. The State of New Mexico receives the largest portion which is 5 percent, thus leaving less than one percent for the County and about one percent for the City of Socorro.
In Sierra County and Truth or Consequences, their tax rates are 6.1875 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Up north in Valencia County and Belen, their tax rates are 6.375 percent and 7.8125 percent, respectively.
So whatever you call it; gross receipt or sales tax, thanks to our City and County government officials for keeping our consumptive taxes as low as possible while providing their excellent services for our community.
Sincerely,
Terry Tadano
Socorro Chamber of Commerce
The Mountain Mail Opinion Page is meant to be a forum for a diverse range of opinions. The Mountain Mail encourages signed letters to the editor or guest columns. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication.
Please limit the length of letters to 500 words. We reserve the right to edit for content, style and grammar. The deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday for the following Thursday’s paper.
Readers can send letters to Mailbag, PO Box 1912 Socorro, NM 87801; hand-deliver to the Mountain Mail office in the Adobe Plaza at 413 N. California St.; e-mail to mountainmaileditor@ yahoo.com; or fax to (505) 838-3998.
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