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Sunday, August 19, 2001
We all benefit
Nick Cenci, the senior citizen who complained about having to pay school taxes for schools long past the time his children graduated, had better rethink his position ("Why Am I Still Paying?" Aug. 10).
Most children attend public school for 12 years. If most Americans retire at 62 years and the average life expectancy is 77 years, with some living much longer (upwards of 82), it seems a fair exchange.
We all benefit when our society is well educated. Educated children grow up to become responsible citizens paying taxes for Social Security, Medicare, prescription drug plans and senior discounts. An uneducated populace benefits no one (unless you live in the Third World, where the "patrones" thrive on paying out low wages to illiterates). We all pay taxes for services that we may never use or only use for a brief period.
While I agree that taxes can be prohibitive for seniors, they are no less prohibitive for young working families struggling to pay for child care, housing, food, etc. while also paying for taxes for seniors.
Let's figure out how to solve problems, not pick on each other, young vs. old.
AVE BACHER
Not a realistic complaint
Upon reading Nick Cenci' s Aug. 10 letter ("Why Am I Still Paying?"), I feel that a few points need a response.
First, when Mr. Cenci's children were attending school in Whitehall, there were single people, childless couples, "empty nesters" and senior citizens all paying taxes to support his children's education. Now it is his turn to continue to support the schools as others did for him and his children.
If Mr. Cenci believes that selling his home will relieve him from the burden of paying real estate (school) taxes, he should think again. The taxes paid on rented property are built into the rent paid to the landlord. So everyone, homeowners as well as renters, pays property taxes, either directly or indirectly.
As for government officials turning their backs "on the people who put them in office," need I remind Mr. Cenci that all people over the age of 18 have the right to vote, not just seniors? As these property taxes are nothing new to Mr. Cenci, proper savings and financial planning would make the paying of real estate taxes manageable.
I am surely not in favor of high property taxes, but Mr. Cenci's belief that he should be exempt from taxes due to his age and family status is not realistic or equitable.
DONNA J. COSENTINO
A joint responsibility
I am writing in response to Nick Cenci's letter, "Why Am I Still Paying?" (Aug. 10), and to the many others who believe as he does. I would agree that the tax system in Pennsylvania is inadequate and unfair. Our reliance on property taxes to subsidize public education is unfair to many and should be re-evaluated.
However, Mr. Cenci's argument that those who do not have children in the public school system should not be asked to support public schools is a shortsighted one.
Approximately 90 percent of the children who graduate from high school in Pennsylvania (as in the rest of the United States) graduate from public schools. Most eventually go into the work force and pay taxes. Their tax dollars help to pay for the police who patrol our streets, the supplies and workers who build our roads, the electricity that lights our traffic and street lights, the community centers and public pools, the libraries, ambulance services, etc. that all of us benefit from. Their tax dollars also pay into Social Security and Medicare, services that all of our seniors benefit from. (Many seniors collect far more from these services than they ever pay in.)
We need to realize that it is just as important for the child down the street as it is for our own children to receive a quality education, across the city, on the other side of the county, across the state and throughout the United States.
If we do not collectively accept responsibility to educate all children, then who will build our roads, protect our security here and abroad, take care of us when we are sick, make the next important medical discovery, fix our car, etc.?
We cannot possibly expect that only those who have children in public education should foot the bill when we all benefit from the education these children receive. If we do put the burden on parents alone, then only those children lucky enough to have well-educated, well-employed parents will have the education necessary to take our places in the future work force and in society.
Paying taxes to support public education is not being "penalized." It is an investment in our future. That is why we are still paying.
JACKIE FOOR
Those without children
Regarding Nick Cenci's Aug. 10 letter ("Why Am I Still Paying?"):
Doesn't he think people without children paid taxes to send his children to school? Somehow I don't think he would have supported a tax plan that put the burden solely on parents when his children were getting an education.
By the way, I'm one of those without children.
HELEN CALDWELL
Richland
Marshall
Mt. Lebanon
Cranberry