Frequent letter writer Ed Konecnik wants to know how much of the money he earns belongs to me in the name of social justice and why, but that is not the right question to ask.
The real question to ask is: Should any of us pay any tax money for government social programs? The answer is yes.
Why? Because we live in a society. A society is a structured community of people bound together by similar traditions, institutions or nationality. Societies have social responsibilities, things that contribute to and benefit the group as a whole. Yes, we are individuals, but our societal collective affords us many things that we do and have as members of the group.
You should be happy to pay taxes because our system of government affords us so much that many other countries do not have. Yet we lag far behind the highest standards of living in the world, which continually go to the Scandinavian countries that provide free healthcare, free education and other subsidies to their members by taking more tax money than we pay.
When asked, citizens in those countries say they are happy with their lives and are glad to pay the higher taxes for the better quality of services they receive from their governments.
Konecnik sees our society divided between those who have enough and moochers, and he resents any of his tax money going to pay for any moocher services.
He cannot be a product of public education. He must never have lost his job through no fault of his own, taken unemployment insurance, been injured at work and sought disability or suffered any medical emergency that depleted his savings.
He must never have been in the military or taken advantage of any veterans benefits. He cannot be a guy who is taking his Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any other senior services because that would make him a moocher.
If so, lucky him, but he should not resent those who are not as fortunate as he and need a helping hand from society once in a while.
Tyler Cassell
Flushing
