HomeNewsLetters to the Editor: Jan. 18, 2017

Letters to the Editor: Jan. 18, 2017

Thank you, local police

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I want to take the time to thank the two 15th District police officers who helped save my cat’s life on New Year’s Eve.

As my cat helplessly dangled from my iron fence post, crying in desperation, officers Sharon Pawlowski and John Miller quickly responded to my neighbor’s 911 call.

They removed her from the fence post and rushed her to a nearby animal hospital.

Not only do our officers sacrifice their lives on a daily basis, they also go above and beyond their call of duty!

Dave Iorio

Tacony

Democrats out of touch

Once again, just as in the national election, the Democrat leadership has demonstrated how out of touch they are with middle-class working families.

I will start with the new evil tax on most drinks. If we purchase a case of 16-ounce Gatorade for $11, the soda tax on this is $5.76 plus 88 cents sales tax.

We already pay the second-highest city wage tax in the nation and 8 percent sales tax. On top of this, Democratic Gov. Wolf has just added 7.9 cent tax to the highest gas tax-per-gallon in the U.S. Wolf just increased the already enormous tolls on the Turnpike 6 percent. My tolls are $48 a week on a road that was only supposed to have tolls until the cost of building it was completed. I could go on and on. By the time we added the above on top of our federal, state and other taxes, we probably bring home about 35 cents on each dollar we earn.

Let me go back to the tax on most beverages. Not only does this affect our purchases, but the hit will be much worse on those that lose jobs and businesses. Most businesses are barely hanging on in Philadelphia with the outrageous taxes and insane regulation.

Just look at Frankford Avenue where I live. In the past year, Pathmark, Kmart and Food Basics have gone under because they could not make a profit with all the taxes and regulation. Finally, a new store opened up called PJP, in the old Food Basics store, and much of what they sell is drinks. This will probably kill them and all the jobs created in our neighborhood.

Many small businesses like steak shops and soft- pretzel stores make a fair percent of their profit on the sale of drinks. Much of this will go away because many of us will never pay or cannot afford to pay this massive tax. I am sure many working families will do like my family and load up on drinks in stores outside Philadelphia, and while we are there pick up our full grocery orders, killing more jobs in our city.

I used to wonder in astonishment how the Democrats could not comprehend that their policies destroy jobs and hurt working families. They could not be that stupid, could they? The truth is they are not. They figured out a long time ago they win either way.

If we pay the insane taxes, they have more money to buy votes and get massive pensions. The part I missed for years is that when we lose our jobs, they have us exactly where they want us — totally dependent on government handouts of food stamps and housing assistance. No longer free, but on the government-run plantation. As much as we like where we live and love our neighbors, we will probably end up like many others, forced to move out of the city to survive.

Tom Lacey

Holmesburg

Protect unborn babies

When was it that a woman’s right to choose became synonymous with taking away a child’s right to be born? Obviously, protecting the unborn is first and foremost to me in our world today. When I think about this and pray about it, I close my eyes and see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem so many centuries ago. The only difference in this vision for me today is seeing him weeping over the lost lives of so many innocent little ones and the location of the heartbreaking sadness…America.

Personally, I don’t believe peace will be ours in any aspect until we take care of the rights of our little ones and face the culture of death that is slowly, but clearly pervading our nation.

Pat Bevenour

Holmesburg

Beverage tax is foolish

The beverage tax is a foolish idea. All that’s going to come out of it is reduced sales and maybe reduced revenue, people driving out to the suburbs — as I do — and “bottleggers” on every corner. [bottlegger: a portmanteau of bottle and bootlegger]

Howard J. Wilk

Bustleton

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