By Ginger Vetrano, Special to the Tri-City Herald
First, I want to thank the Tri-City Herald and the Dispute Resolution Center of the Tri-Cities for conducting this and other Community Conversations. These quarterly events give us an opportunity to listen and learn from others, as well as focus our own ideas.
Second, I am not a Tri-City Tea Party member nor a sympathizer. I applied to be part of the conversation in order to understand their issues and to meet other members of our community who are enthusiastic about politics and our country.
Third, I would like to state that the community members who showed up (most of the group was from the tea party or sympathized with it) were thoughtful citizens who were genuinely concerned about the direction our country is going.
They state they are not involved with social issues like abortion or gay marriage. Rather they are focusing on issues such as the FairTax, health care, climate change, the cost of government and Agenda 21.
The last issue is a United Nations sponsored program that, according to the tea party, changes the U.S. from the principles of a freedom-loving constitutional government that this country was founded on to the control of a new world order controlled by the United Nations.
Their concern is that this may already have started. They also gave out copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and a hand out for the book, The 5000 Year Leap, which contained many religious statements.
Since this was two-night commitment, I had time to look at the Fair Tax web site. The gist of it is that instead of a federal income tax, we have a federal sales tax. For each one dollar you spend on new purchases, there would be a 30 cent tax, no exceptions.
It is revenue neutral with the current income tax, so, there would be some winners and some losers. However, companies would not have to pay payroll taxes or corporate taxes -- or any type of federal tax.
It seems as if businesses would be the winners, and lower income people would be the losers. To offset some expenses for food, clothing and rent, a prebate is given monthly, according to your family's size. A "small" family, not defined, would get about $4,500 a year, according to the video. I agree the federal tax system needs an overhaul, and the FairTax system is transparent and easy to follow.
A closer look, however, makes it appear to be another type of regressive tax with the burden on our lower income population.
The FairTax supporters' online video also stated they want to abolish the 16th amendment, which gives the government the right to levy an income tax.
The tea party is not a political party in the accepted sense of the word. The local group is trying to educate people about the Constitution, their values and their way of thinking, and do not seem to be the rabble-rousers so often depicted in the news. They have no national leader, although the local group is structured.
There are problems to be solved in this country, but we do not need to go to these extremes -- change the constitution, abolish the income tax or worry about the U.N. taking over America.
* Ginger Vetrano is a retired nurse practitioner and active in community service. She's an avid dancer and lives in Kennewick.
