No need to worry
It has now been over six months since the State of Iowa began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and, contrary to the apocalyptic prophecies from many anti-gay factions, the sky is not falling.
Doug Bucklin
Des Moines
Misunderstand the point
Mr. George (“Your View,” Nov. 12) apparently doesn’t think it is unfair that wage earners and salaried employees are fully taxed on their income while it is perfectly all right to exempt wealthy Iowa landowners and businessmen from capital gains tax. I wasn’t advocating the creation of any new taxes.
Maybe Mr. George doesn’t understand the process by which a tax exemption is created by the state legislature. Business lobbyists went to the state legislature and were able to win for their clients’ exemptions from paying taxes on equipment purchases and real estate that they owned. They struck a deal with the state legislature that exempted Iowa capital gains income entirely from Iowa income tax. Wage earners don’t have paid lobbyists so we are left out in the cold and not readily allowed to take part in those negotiations. We depend on our legislators to look out for our best interests but politicians, who run for reelection, in turn depend on the deep pockets of businessmen to finance their campaigns.
Federal and state governments protected wage earners through the enactment of labor laws from rapacious business owners who don’t meet their payrolls or only do so grudgingly. Certain businessmen don’t pay a living wage; they underpay, misrepresent or delay wages and vacation pay that was earned, don’t provide lunch or work breaks, don’t correct unsafe working conditions and certainly health insurance and pension benefits are totally foreign to their collective consciousness.
Capitalism certainly has its charms for businessmen but they are mostly lost on the middle class and wage earners who have had to endure massive layoffs and plundering of their retirement accounts that ultimately had their source in the ruthless excesses of unfettered capitalism and an unregulated economy.
Greg Lee
Des Moines
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