Dear editor:
Here are a few reasons and statistics why I find it hard to support Pave it Forward.
Our current state and local sales tax burden is already the second-highest in the nation at No. 49. Arkansas' income level is ranked near the bottom of all states. So you have some of the lowest paid work force in the nation and people on fixed incomes paying the highest sales taxes. Here in Garland County, only about one-third of the residents make up the workforce. The majority of households these days require two people working to just get by.
My heart goes out to the many of our seniors trying to live on a fixed income. Using words like disposable and expendable income is tacky and does not represent the majority of the residents in Garland County. We the people of Garland county share in the state's ranking in some of these pitiful statistics.
- Hunger and food insecurity: 19.9 percent ranked the highest in the nation, No. 50.
Percentage of households who were food insecure on average from 2012 to 2014, meaning that at some point during the year, they experienced difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of money or resources.
- Overall poverty rate: 18.9 percent ranked No. 46 and Garland County 18.7 percent.
Percentage of people who had incomes below the poverty line ($23,834 for a family of four) in 2014.
- Assets and savings: 11.2 percent Ranked No. 46.
Percentage of households that used high-cost, high-risk forms of credit to make ends meat during 2013. This includes payday loans, automobile title loans, refund anticipation loans, rent-to-own and pawning.
In other words, don't make it harder on the majority of us to cater to a few.
To read these and other interesting statistics, visit http://talkpoverty.org, http://taxfoundation.org. and http://census.gov.
Wayne Brassell
Hot Springs
Editorial on 06/25/2016