Getting by on limited means

With the exception of education and health care, nothing could be more important to the public than our police and firemen. I would love to give them all the money they desire, but I simply don’t have it.

My only source of income is my Social Security check of around a thousand dollars a month. Two of those checks now go to my property taxes, leaving me with about $10K. Of that, another thousand dollars goes to our regressive sales tax system. I live on $9K a year.

How do I do it? I manage my money and reject the extras. I own the home outright and make no mortgage payments. I have no cable TV, no cellphone, no internet connection. I walk nearly everywhere I go. I fill the tank of my 72 year-old truck perhaps four times a year, but I still have to pay for a whole year’s worth of insurance. I also buy homeowners insurance, but I can’t afford health insurance beyond my basic Medicare. I scrimped and saved and never fell into credit card debt in order to buy my home here 25 years ago, mostly by working near minimum wage jobs.

It is reaching the point where I will have to move because of the taxes, which for me already represents one-third of my income. So although I would love to help out our police and firemen, I’m afraid I can’t do it. I’m tapped out.

I am not looking for sympathy, I’m happy with my life and proud of what I was able to accomplish. My point is, if I can find a way to survive with so little, then so should our government institutions. A good place to start would be to allow at least one pot shop in Kent, so that we could then share in the income from those state taxes now denied to us. There are other things we could also do, too many to list for this letter to remain concise.

You went to the well once too often. At this point it doesn’t matter how right the cause, I am forced to vote no on every future tax increase, or I might as well just sign the place over to the government.

– Marshall Dunlap