Iowa’s leaders are steering in the wrong direction

I do not feel the sky is falling as John Hendrickson suggested some think in a recent column (“The sky is not falling: Iowa’s tax reform was the right decision” March 27). But I question the direction our leaders are taking us.

I appreciate the wealth our current leaders have accumulated but I question at what cost? Since underfunding our school system at a less than 3 percent for several years, refusing to fund our natural resources fund, approved by the majority of Iowans 10 years ago or better and continuing to not staff our Department of Natural Resources or prison staff to levels to insure safety, it’s easy to see how this surplus has been arrived at. Lawmakers also made it difficult or outlawed collective bargaining for public employees. That’s not in Iowa’s best interest as our drop in population shows.

Rather than reduce taxes for our governor’s big donors, maybe we should be making our state a more attractive place to live rather than less and spend some of this surplus the benefit all Iowans rather than a wealthy few. As stated in another letter a while back, it’s getting tougher and tougher to be proud to be an Iowan.

Wayne Anderson

Solon