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Curry was correct not to

raises taxes in pandemic

Mayor Lenny Currys proposal to keep the city budget and our property tax rates the same as the previous year is responsible.

Local families and the business community have taken an economic beating during the pandemic. Now is not the time to raise taxes.

Due to government shutdowns, businesses have lost substantial revenues. Small businesses need more help than government bureaucracies as The New York Times reported that more than 40 percent of the nations 30 million small businesses could close permanently in the next six months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even in this current dire situation for Jacksonvilles taxpayers, there are those that continue to argue for tax increases. One of the common claims is that Jacksonvilles taxes are too low and that Jacksonville does not spend enough on city government compared to rival cities. This is misguided. To be fair, Jacksonvilles tax rate is lower, and should be lower, because it has the benefit of consolidated government.

For example, having one police agency in lieu of 31 municipalities like Broward County saves Jacksonville a lot of money. The same goes for the fire, building, public works and all the other consolidated departments that allow Jacksonville to be vastly more efficient.

Not raising taxes at this critical time in our citys history while businesses are struggling is of utmost importance. The city leaders have a duty to the people to smartly set tax rates as well as to properly manage existing tax revenues. Doing so will bolster economic activity and create a better business environment. Only a profitable business community will have the money to hire and invest and ultimately to pay the taxes to sustain quality city services.

Bill Spinner, builder-developer, Jacksonville

Norman Thomas quote was bogus,

and so was writers logic

A recent letter railed against creeping socialism in the U.S, utilizing a bogus quote from former Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas that predicted Americans would adopt socialism under the name of liberalism. The letter implies that any public policy called liberal is just a cover for socialism. The purported Thomas quote lends authority to the warning.

Thomas did not make any such claim. Both Politifact and Snopes conducted exhaustive searches for the quote through Thomas writings and speeches online as well as through a curator of Thomas archives at the New York Public Library. The quote does not appear anywhere in Thomas works.

If federal programs that directly affect peoples lives is a definition of socialism, then rail against Medicare, Social Security, federal tax mortgage interest deductions, federal relief after natural disasters and the myriad other federal programs that redirect tax dollars fromgovernment coffers to our pockets. The problem, then, is not liberalism but every one of us, conservative and liberal.

Richard Birdsall, Jacksonville

Read more:
Letters: Curry was right not to raise taxes; and letter on socialism was bogus - The Florida Times-Union