Republican tax cuts are why we can’t have ‘nice things’

I like nice things — a glass of pure, clean water, a smooth, clear road ahead, a pristine state park, watching kids splash in a river or lake.

Just how far those things are our of reach became apparent to me when my son and I picked up our 2023 Iowa income tax returns.

My son's income, primarily from a full-time job, is about one-fourth of mine, but his tax bill is more than $400 larger than mine. This year, for the first time, retirement income is untaxed.

Meanwhile, we are told there is no money for some of my "nice things."

My son and his fellow wage earners will be providing the nice things, if we get any, from incomes that barely sustain a reasonable standard of living. Retirees whose incomes are in the range of my son's deserve an exemption from tax.

Some of us do not.

What to do with my $5,000 reduction in taxes? I would send a check for the amount owed last year, but I fear those funds would end up in the state "surplus" to justify further tax cuts or the move to a flat tax, which is even more regressive.

My question for my neighbors and fellow Iowans: ls this the kind of state we want or can we agree on a vision that we are able and willing to support together?

Kay Brown

Coralville