There's only one tax that is fair to everyone and that is sales tax. It's paid by everyone who purchases anything so that rich or poor are taxed the same.

The one thing that is exempt from sales tax is food. What about putting that tax back on?

Raising taxes now is a cop-out. Last week's Fast Focus about the school buses -- some of the opinions were right on. When I attended high school, I lived across town, but the city buses were available and I took that to school -- there were no "school buses" for kids in town even if you were several miles away from your school. You walked or took the city bus. I would have to recommend it if it would mean saving the state a considerable amount of money.

These are lean times for everyone, and I'm sure the state can find cuts in the budget if they try hard enough. Maybe they should work with what they have and not throw our tax money on new stuff but fix the old stuff for awhile like I have to.

-- Helen Thompson, Othello