You'd think a college teacher would know better.

Ray Karrer recently sent a letter to The Paris News in which he opined about the Texas legislature cutting spending. He claims the legislature is balancing the budget by "taxing the least of these." But it's obvious from Karrer's further explanations that this retired college teacher should go back and learn what a tax is.

Is our legislature proposing new taxes for the poor? Not that I know of. What Karrer calls a tax is the lack of a handout. "When we reduce health care for the ones who can afford it least, we are in essence levying a tax on the poor." Hogwash! The "poor" aren't being asked to contribute one dime to the state's coffers. They are merely being told that the state can no longer afford to pay for what they should have been paying for themselves all along. Let me give you an example of "the poor."

I know of a man who has had two children out of wedlock. He refused to marry the mother of his second child because she would lose her medicaid benefits if he did, yet they are living together. Both he and the mother of his child smoke. They can "afford" cigarettes, yet they can't "afford" medical care for their child. Why did they have a child they can't afford? Because they knew someone else would take care of it for them. I am not opposed to these people, as Karrer puts it, being taxed.

Karrer says that when we take away grant funding for those who can't afford to go to college, we are again levying a tax on the poor. That's kind of like saying that GM is levying a tax on me because I can't afford a Cadillac, and they're not giving me the money to buy one. Just as I don't have to contribute one dime to GM (except through government bailouts) those who can't afford to go to college aren't being taxed one dime because of their status.

And Karrer goes on and on in this vein. He "pleads for fairness." I've been pleading for fairness for years. Fairness is not taking my money and giving it to someone who didn't work for it. Karrer must face the reality that the lack of a handout is NOT a tax. He should know better.

"Tax the 'least of these.'" The Paris News; January 23, 2011; p. 4A.