Churches must pay their share

The city has a multimillion dollar deficit. While walking our dog I saw a car with religious missionaries of an un-named church with exempt license plates. A modest suggestion occurred to me: Churches and other religious buildings should pay property taxes, since they too use city services.

That would cure our deficit and maybe even allow a reduction of the mill rate for all of us.

"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's ..."

-- Charles Aarons

Anchorage

Health plan reeks of socialism

A Socialist Party candidate for President of the U.S., Norman Thomas, said this in a 1944 speech:

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened. I no longer need to run as a presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform."

The government can't adequately run Social Security, the VA or its military hospitals. What makes you think this new administration can run a government health care program?

People at Town Hall meetings across the county are speaking up. We must do something, and quickly. I see the handwriting on the wall. Wake up out there, it's not roses you are smelling!

-- Vera S. Stepsics

Anchorage

There's no monopoly on caring

In response to Ms. William's letter of Aug. 11 ("Where is the concern for all living children in the world?"):

I am strongly pro-life, but after reading her letter I now know whatever I do is woefully inadequate since I can't save every child on our planet.

She teaches a wonderful lesson. Next Arbor Day, when I plant trees with my grandchildren, I'll be sure to inform them they are ineffectual in their action since they didn't save every rainforest on Earth.

-- Patti Scarbrough

Eagle River

Single-payer system is best

Monday night at his prime-time health care news conference, President Obama finally admitted what we have known all along.

"I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that unless you have a -- what's called a single-payer system, in which everybody's automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual."

There it is folks. Only single payer can fix the ills with our health care system. He also talked about the critical importance of "eliminating waste." Only single payer effectively does that, by cutting out the massive overhead waste (31 percent) by paper-churning insurance industry bureaucrats, who line their own pockets to provide LESS health care with the available resources.

This is the single-payer moment. We have enough Democrats alone to pass it. So why hasn't it been signed into law yet?

Equality means everybody gets what they need and everybody pays what they can on a sliding scale. Equality!

-- Bonnie Nelson

Chugiak

Make health care available to all

Where is the freedom in our country if a hard-working entrepreneur cannot afford health care?

Why not at least give these people, who pay taxes like everyone else, catastrophic insurance (i.e. $5,000 deductible). The initial deductible can usually be met, even if it means selling a few personal items, but cancer or a more serious disease can mean selling one's home and all one has worked a lifetime for.

For those who say no to health care reform because it might limit some of their benefits, what about those who have no benefits? After you turn 50, the cost of insurance exceeds most people's income. Will that not make their product or service more expensive to cover the extra insurance costs?

This segment of the population is extremely valuable, but they don't get paid overtime, vacation, sick leave, retirement, etc. Health care simply is not an option most can afford. Do we want to deter entrepreneurs from doing services for the country because health care cannot be made affordable for them?

-- Donna Klecka

Eagle River

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