To the bottom

To the Editor,

Is Wyoming competing in a race to the bottom of the states? Wyoming must have passed Mississippi. 

We have the lowest personal tax at about $3,000 per person. We once had attractive pay scales for teachers and state employees, but apparently not now. The only attraction we seem to have is no income tax for the freeloaders in Jackson. 

A state cannot present a good image without hiring quality personnel. The bureaus cannot retain the quality of people they need with maintaining a respectable pay scale. We cannot have good schools without paying higher salaries. Teachers used to leave other states for jobs in Wyoming. Law enforcement would not have problems finding people. I wonder how many of the Freedom Caucus members would like to be stopping a car at night on I-80. The highway patrol is far under strength. We all drive the highways and hope we do not have to meet unqualified truck drivers. I am part owner of an 80-year-old family business, and we are constantly waiting on approvals for various projects.

Wyoming has a reputation as a beautiful place to live and visit, but it is like an old beautiful hotel which looks great but loses its allure when guests discover that the plumbing and lights do
not work. 

The Freedom Caucus seems to think that people will come because of low taxes, but that only works for people who do not pay taxes. We have a number of small towns that have managed to keep their appearance up, but they cannot do that without a
reasonable tax base. There
is probably not a city in the state that can say they have the funds available to
maintain their streets and infrastructure.

The recent property tax cuts have caused real problems for cities and schools. There does need to be a study on how to repair our antiquated constitution, which was designed for an economy a hundred years ago. The collection and distribution of property tax needs an overhaul.