I disagree with Ron Somerville’s letter to the editor in the Sunday, March 6 Juneau Empire.
He alleges that we have a “bloated and wasteful city government”, but he provides no specific examples of wasteful government services. It appears to me that city officials try very hard to provide needed services efficiently.
I also disagree with his statement that limiting the senior citizen sales tax exemption “shows no respect for Juneau seniors”.
My wife and I are seniors and we appreciated having the universal sales tax exemption. However, we understand that revenues aren’t keeping up with the costs of providing essential services. We, like many other senior citizens in Juneau, have reasonably comfortable retirement incomes so we don’t object to paying sales tax on most purchases. And, we appreciate the continuing sales tax exemptions for food, utilities and heating oil.
The continuing exemption for basic needs and the rebate for low-income seniors demonstrate that city officials do indeed care about seniors in our community.
We also are concerned about lower income families who don’t receive exemptions for sales and property taxes.
Both mayoral candidates are reasonable, intelligent people with impressive resumes.
There are many very important issues facing this community. I hope voters don’t decide which candidate to support based solely on the senior citizen sales tax exemption.
Mark S. Johnson,
Juneau