Letter: Fairness often is in the eyes of the beholder

Thursday, May 31, 2001 | 8:41 a.m.

So Judi Root, in her May 27 letter, believes seniors shouldn't be taxed to support our local schools. She apparently believes she's paid her dues in raising her own children and sending them to school, and so parents of children now should be responsible for all of those costs.

She ends by saying that she believes in fairness, but that taxing seniors isn't fair.

If she truly believes in fairness and that taxing someone for benefits currently being provided another, then she won't mind if I stop paying my share of Social Security taxes on my income. I keep reading that the way things are going, Social Security may not be there when I'm a senior.

And so it's evident that the money coming out of my paycheck is for those who are now receiving Social Security benefits. Geez, could that include Judi Root?

And let's not stop there. Those who never use a county-run hospital shouldn't have to pay for those who do, right? Those who never use a library, city or county, shouldn't have to pay for those who do, right? Those who never ride a bus shouldn't have to pay for those who do, right? If one follows her "logic" and her desire for "fairness," then one has no choice but to admit that her "fairness" is what she apparently believes is "fair" to her, no one else.

And yes, that is selfish, that is sour grapes, and most of all, it is shortsighted. It's akin to the child who chips in for the group to buy some marbles, but in the end wants to keep all of the marbles. And that isn't "fair" in any dictionary to me.

SAM KITTERMAN JR.