Re: Dan O’Sullivan letter of May 22 (“Time to Junk School Tax Break for Cobb Seniors”)
After 10 years in retirement and free to move anywhere, I have continued living in Cobb and Marietta partially because of this tax break.
I, my wife, and many in our generation, put ourselves through college, some yoked with student loans. Then came our children (three for us), for whom I paid everything. Those were very difficult years; both parents working; I taking an out of country post alone for three years for the extra money. And now come the 11 grandchildren, for whom I have been and will continue to be partially responsible. That’s three generations of support and related educational costs!
Different generations have different problems. The “Greatest Generation,” the WWII demographic, had multiple stressful events to overcome. Careers were truncated; relationships were destroyed or diminished, they were overworked, and many were killed or maimed both physically and emotionally. My generation has their cross to bear, too. Please note that the recently retired cannot live as expected on their savings. Suppose you were prudent and lucky enough to have $1 million in retirement accounts. But financially, the country is running at a 2 percent GDP and is in a 10-to-15 year cyclical bear market requiring both personal and governmental monetary de-leveraging. This means, among other events, that one cannot safely and regularly extract even 2 percent on their savings. That’s $20,000 before taxes for our millionaire! Also note that the first decade of the new century had been essentially dead for investing. This is a curse for the retired generation.
Policy makers and lawyers can change the meaning of a concept by inventing and inserting into the conversation a single word. One such trick is “entitlement.” Of course, in recent decades, there has been an ongoing giveaway in the country in exchange for votes. But contracts like Social Security and Medicare were mostly paid for by the recipients. In my case contributing the maximum for over 40 years. Even military retirement! My 20 years in the Navy with a Vietnam tour is now recharacterized as an “entitlement.” And we all know what that means the government can pick and chose how to save the nation by breaking these covenants.
A point that Mr. Sullivan misses here is an ongoing debate in national politics: That the place we now find ourselves is due to our own misdeeds and bad decisions. For those who remember, consider “Pogo the possum,” a cartoon character in the 1940s and ’50s, whose dictum was: “We have met the enemy and he is us!”
The educational system, generally speaking, is in a state of chaos. What are the remedies? Well, maybe spend more money of course. What are the causes? Refer back to Pogo. The antithesis is simple: Spend less, especially if you don’t have it.
And you have my personal assurance, as a dues paying member of the retired generation, that statistically speaking, we don’t have much money either. And no way to earn money if we don’t have it.
George Thompson
Marietta
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Both the young and old here have VERY VALID points.
SO, Here is the solution. Raise the age of eligibility for the exemption, because of several FACTS: 1)people live longer 2) people work longer because they live longer, 3) people start families and continue to bear children later in life than in previous generations.
Also, to be fair to the olders, who are approaching exemption age, allow a grace period of 1-2 years so they can adjust their life styles and spending accordingly.
Thii or some sensible variation of this might be worth considering, as opposed to the mud slinging (again valid on both fronts).
So many points to address so let me start with restating what my main point I said ealier. I will not be allowed to even APPLY for SS benefits seeing as though I am 30 years old now. You do realize that the coffers are bone dry and there is no money in the SS anymore. What you and I pay in goes out the door immediately to fund the baby boomers that are retiring now. I would love to be able to opt out of SS and sign whatever I need to in order to retire on my own terms but you know who is dynamically opposed to that? The retirees. I have to work to fund their retirement but that is not my point. I wasn't able to vote 30 years ago when they started taking from the cookie jar, you were. In no way should my generation shoulder this enormous burden (overspending) that was brought on way before their time. I hope this makes sense as I used my broad brush to explain hoping it clicks for you.
Time to reverse this pathetic good ole boy law in cobb.
My father use to tell me, the only thing I have to do in life is die and pay taxes!
FYI, my parents pay the school taxes in Cobb County and proud to do so for the sake of their grandchildren's education and all of childrens future.
In fact, in an industrialized country such as ours, young or old, we all rely on and benefit from each others' educations--every minute of every day. Our educational system is an investment from which our country has realized tremendous returns. If spending less, as Thompson suggests, means inferior instructors, larger classes, fewer hours in the classroom, and less educated graduates--and it does--then we can expect future generations to be worse off if we adopt his attitude on this issue.
I am appreciative of George Thompson's sacrifice for his country and for his service to his community. But why stop now?
Each of us has different needs and different opinions about what is needed to sustain us. I am paying medical and dental expenses for an adult child who has none. Last year was a very bad years and cost me thousands for surgery. My wife needed four surgeries. She has insurance, but the 20% it cost us inflicted deep financial strain on my family.
The "paultry" (paltry) amount we did not pay to the school tax was helpful. There is no way we can replace the money we spent. We are thankful that we had savings and a credit line to help us pay.
PS If I were paying school tax, I would want my portion of the spelling teaching reimbursed.
Well written! Excellent letter. The last part,
"And you have my personal assurance, as a dues paying member of the retired generation, that statistically speaking, we don’t have much money either. And no way to earn money if we don’t have it.",
- tells it like it is.
I watched a TV show a couple of years back where Electrolux closed a plant in Michigan and moved it to Mexico. Older workers left behind said they were running through their savings and "there is no way to replace them".