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6A Daily News– Wednesday, April 11, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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This isn't the first time this has happened with these two wind towers. But it had better be the last. Barbara Frost-Kloose, Red Bluff One recent morning I hopped in my car for the short jaunt to Red Bluff only to notice "a light" was on. Heck, this means a stop at Les Schwab for air. During the drive in, I began lamenting the loss of service sta- tions or for those few older than me, filling stations. A place where one could actually stop and get gas, oil, air and a clean wind- shield all in one place. What a concept. Old days Editor; A person can have all the techie gadgets you want; iPhones, iPads, Blackberries, laptops, etc., but you still have to pump your own gas and check your oil. And yes, I know how to do all Maybe I should just drive my '48 GMC, which only has a choke button and throttle button. Those tires never need air. My mother, who is 96, suggest- ed I get a husband. I said only if he has a portable air compressor. On second thought, it's easier to stop at the tire shop, gas sta- tion, oil change place and car wash. Sigh... Lucretia Betts, Dairyville The Los Molinos Volunteer Fire Department recently held our annual Easter Egg Hunt. This would not be possible without the support and help of our community. Thank you Editor: Market for all their help. Jeanine Hart, Los Molinos Editor: If there was a gold medal award for intellectual gymnastics, there would be no doubt Richard Maz- zucchi would have a trophy room full of them. Medalist would have us believe that Obama is the best and brightest President of the United States that we've ever had. In order for us to accept Obama as the best and brightest, we would have to overlook or bury a few facts that are overlooked, not only by the mainstream media, but also by Richard and the progres- sives. We have a President: 1. Who has one of the worst (if Richard and the Progressives not the worst) jobs record of any president in the modern era. 2. The longest stretch of high is worse than the Great Depression 3. Chronic unemployment that Recessions unemployment since the Great Depression 4. A housing crisis that is worse than the Great Depression 5. A standard of liv- ing for Americans that has fallen further and more steeply than at any time since the govern- ment began recording it five decades ago 6. A record increase in the number of people who are in poverty 7. The first credit rating down- grade in American history 8. Gas prices have more than doubled A big thank you to NuWay engineer, specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, you know he has to overlook the hundreds of millions, even billions of our tax dollars wasted on loans to solar and wind energy projects that went bankrupt such as Solyn- dra ($500 million) and Solar Trust for America received $2.1 billion in conditional loan guarantees. It is unclear how much of the guaran- tee was actually paid before they went bankrupt. With neither regret nor shame, liberals cling to their smoke and mirrors to hide the many chinks in Obama's armor. You would think liberals would be a little more careful when it comes to lecturing the rest of us about what works and what doesn't work. There are many who might say it is a sign of madness. In his lofty title as research Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Your Turn are today, with low prices, mini- mal downpayment, and low 5 percent mortgage rates. While doing some recent financial analysis, I came across a 1980s mort- gage booklet with the required monthly Editor: How fortunate home buyers home mortgage rates for various home values for the then typical 30 year mortgages. The book only included mortgage interest rates between 7 percent and 18 percent. The home we had bought October 1982 in Rock- ford, Illinois had a low 14 per- cent interest rate as we had made a 50 percent downpayment. Most newly purchased homes in the early 1980s had 18 percent interest rates for the then mini- mum 20 percent downpayment. That era was truly the great recession, with 20 percent unem- ployment in that near Chicago manufacturing city that primari- ly made tools and dies and com- ponents for the faltering Detroit auto industry. As in 1986, home sales in 2012 averaged two years on the market and deep home sale loses. Poorly managed fed- eral and state government deficit spending and high taxes are the primary cause of the deep reces- sions of the early 1980s and today. It is interesting that both recessions are while Democrats controlled the presidency and state government. Obama's and Brown's gov- ernment deficit spending mis- management continues. Joseph Neff, Corning Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. My father's 1959 tax return Commentary I stumbled upon my father's 1959 income tax return a few years ago. How I long for the simplicity he enjoyed when he filed that year's taxes. For 1959, my father paid a measly 5 percent in federal taxes, even though his name wasn't Rockefeller. How did he do it? It was easy. For a year when the top income tax rate was 91 percent -- President Kennedy would slash rates a few years later -- deductions were many. Even middle-class people like my dad enjoyed their fair share of perks. He was a heavy smoker then -- who wasn't? -- and was able to deduct every penny he paid in cigarette taxes. He was able to deduct every taxes every year. penny he paid in gasoline taxes. If we had such a perk now, the federal government would go broke (that is, more broke than it is now). every penny he paid in state sales tax in Pennsylvania, another wonderful perk that would save the average Penn- sylvanian a boatload in federal And he was able to deduct He took a $600 tax deduc- tion for each of his two depen- dents, my sisters Kathy and Krissy -- a lot of dough relative to his income. For 2011, the deduction for each dependent is $3,750. On paper that is six times what my father got in 1959 -- but if prop- erly adjusted for inflation it would be about $5,000 today. Here's one that grabbed my attention: In 1959, he paid only 2.5 percent of his income toward FICA (then, Social Security; now, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid). Now, aside from a temporary 2-percentage-point FICA tax break, the average employee pays 7.65 percent and his or her employer kicks in another 7.65 percent. I, being self-employed, have the pleasure of paying the full 15.3 percent myself. Despite the 2-percentage-point break for 2011, I will write out a siz- able check to bring current the more than $12,000 in FICA contributions I am on the hook for. In any event, my father had his fair share of simple deduc- tions in 1959, which helped offset his feder- al taxes. That helped him keep his total fed- eral tax tab at a measly 5 percent. form was one sheet of paper printed on both sides. He had no calcu- lator, nor did he need one. Better yet, his tax suffering -- including the agita- tions of owning a few rental properties and investing a boat load of dough renovating one -- I will pay about 25 percent of my gross income in federal, state and local taxes. He did a test run in pencil on one copy of the form, then finalized a second in ink and mailed it in; he always got a refund. extremely lucky at that rate. I consider myself Tom Purcell Which is why I long for the simplicity he enjoyed back then. was about 15,000 pages. Today, it is more than 70,000 pages. Unlike my father, who was able to calculate his taxes quickly, I spend days getting mine in order, so I can hand them off to my CPA, so he can tell me I owe lots more than I feared I would. This year, after all my deduc- tions for business and pain and In 1959, the federal tax code didn't pay a dime in taxes that year. I didn't waste a moment getting hundreds of receipts in order and panicking when my CPA told me what I owed. I wasn't born until 1962. ——— Still, as April 17 approaches (April 15's on a Sunday this year), I look back fondly on 1959. I Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e- mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com.