Letters to the editor March 10

Revenue owed

So DOGE is terminating government building leases in Montana for a total savings of $1.8 million. It is deeply regrettable that so much of the cuts impact veterans and their families.  

It is also worrisome that the current “cost saving”   has suspended cyber operations against Russia’s documented election interference. I wonder if there is another way to raise revenue.  

Oh wait! The tax revenue owed to the U.S. but not paid is estimated to be about $696 billion. All that has to be done is to collect it.   

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act increased IRS enforcement from $5.4 billion to $46 billion with the goal of collecting that debt. Unfortunately, the Republicans cut $20 billion from the enforcement budget when they gained the majority in 2022 and have frozen an additional $20 billion, thus again crippling IRS collection of taxes due and owing to the U.S.  

If you think that it is more “efficient” to collect the billions due and owing to the government rather than slashing services and security measures that keep the U.S. strong, you might call, email, or write a letter to our Washington, D.C. delegation to tell them.

— Sharon Morrison, Whitefish

National debt

Are you making more than $450,000 a year? If not, Trump’s $400 trillion (that’s trillion with a T) in tax cuts will have only minimal benefit to you. 

Half of that $400 trillion is going to the wealthiest 5% of Americans who make over $450,000 a year, the remainder is doled out to the rest of us. Further, this tax bill is written so that the richest of the rich pay less tax, while the poorest of the poor pay more tax. 

This is exactly opposite of the progressive graduated income tax system we’ve always had that built the middle class that truly makes America great, and it is being funded with a $400 trillion increase in the national deficit. 

Trump in his first term raised the national debt more that any other president in a single term, and he’s doing it again. Even before this latest debt increase, 13% of the national budget goes to nothing but paying interest on the debt. 

If you’ve run a business or a household, you know this level of debt is unsustainable, and the last thing you want to do is add to it. So, I ask you: do you really want to put $400 trillion of our money on a blank credit card and give it to Trump, a man who has gone bankrupt at least seven times? Personally, I think it’s madness.

— Dave Ames, Missoula