This is Viewpoints for Friday, April 28, 2017

Women shouldn’t support the U.N.

I can’t imagine a single woman supporting the U.N. after recent elections of the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women. Although this commission is “. . . dedicated to the promotion of gender quality and the empowerment of women,” Saudi Arabia was elected and will serve from 2018 - 2022.

Saudi Arabia! That’s where women are not allowed to drive. Where every woman must have a male guardian to approve each life decision a woman makes, from schooling to career, from travel to health care.

This election has been likened to electing a fox to guard the hen house or appointing an arsonist to be the town fire chief.

Anybody home?

Apparently once again our county is not interested in collecting fees for building permits. Three weeks ago an elderly lady called me to see how she could find out it a permit had been issued on her street. I told her I would seek an answer.

I called the mayor’s office and was given two phone numbers. I called both and left messages. No one responded to either message. I called the mayor’s office to see why no one responded. That lady said, “those are the right numbers.” Good bye.

I then called the county’s legal department and was given a different number and a name. He was out, but did call me back. He referred the information to an inspector. The inspector went there at lunch (brilliant) no one was there. He noted sheet rock work and sheet rock in the yard. They told me they did not require a permit. This house is so run down it requires total remodeling.

I called back to ask why the inspector could not ascertain the home’s condition by observation? The work continues and there is no permit.

What does it take to get some public servants to work? There are thousands of middle Georgians that would love to be paid what these folks are making and would work hard to see that laws are obeyed. OK, only a few hundred dollars go uncollected and the fine for not complying. Who cares?

No tax dollars

Just testing to see if the Supreme Court rules in the Trinity Lutheran Church of Missouri case agrees with what I think the ruling should be. First if states have any authority on what is or is not permitted among its businesses in relation to paying all kinds of required taxes, seems to be the question.

Missouri’s corporate income tax and corporate franchise tax exemptions rules are: “Any organization that files an IRS Form 990, 990EZ or 990PF is exempt from filing a Missouri corporation income tax return and is also automatically exempt from filing state corporate franchise taxes.”

Second, in order to obtain a non-profit corporation sales and use tax exemption – according to the Missouri Constitution, one must submit the following to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

▪  A completed Form 1745

<bullet> A copy of the IRS determination letter

<bullet> Articles of Incorporation

<bullet> Organization’s bylaws

<bullet> A complete financial history for the past three years, or an estimated yearly budget if newly formed.

What seems fair to me, church or no church, any place of business even if it is God’s business, if exempt from paying taxes, shouldn’t receive tax money. That should include any educational program formed, run or housed in a church.

The excuse that other children, not members of the church, use church playgrounds should somehow qualify them for tax dollars, well that is like saying all who attend a particular church are not members of a church, therefore the church should receive tax dollars.

Imagine

An anonymous quote which fully echoes my sentiments: “Imagine this scenario: Hillary Clinton is president. It’s learned that she has deep ties to Putin. She puts utterly unqualified billionaires in Cabinet posts. She puts her daughter Chelsea in a position of influence in the West Wing. And Chelsea’s husband is her chief advisor. She refuses to release any tax returns and blocks access to the visitor logs in the White House. Bill refuses to live in the White House so our tax dollars are spent keeping him safe in Chappaqua. Hillary spends almost every weekend lounging in a resort. And, in an interview she names the wrong country she bombed while bragging about the chocolate cake she was eating while she did said bombing. I could go on. The point is that the outrage, the outcries, the screaming by Republicans would be heard around the world and impeachment proceedings would already be underway.”

There is such an organized attempt to squelch legitimate dissent in Congress and the judiciary. Don’t stop showing up to let your political representatives know you want them to work to stop this effort to silence our protests about obvious impropriety. And take these people to court. It’s time.”

Bizarre presidency

I find it very hard to understand why President Donald Trump will not disclose his tax returns. If he would do it today he could put the issue behind him and be free to pursue what he thinks he was elected to do. Or does he have something to hide which, if known, would have kept him from even being a candidate?

To me, the adjective that best describes Trump is “bizarre.” He ran an unprecedented bizarre primary campaign against his Republican opponents where he rudely, crudely attacked the other GOP candidates unmercifully. In the general election campaign, Trump continued his bizarre strategy against the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. Now, going into the fourth month of his presidency, it appears a bizarre Trump presidency could be in the works.

Every person of every political party should want President Trump to release his tax returns, better now than later, or never. The best time would have been before or during the primaries. If Trump does not release them before the 2018 mid-term elections, it should be a major mid-term issue that will motivate Democrats, independents, even Republicans, to go to the polls in record breaking numbers. The whole nation should want to know if Trump is a crook. If he is not a crook, the tax returns will help get him off the hook on the tax issue.

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, April 28, 2017."