Elizabeth Russell of Hansville wrote a letter to the North Kitsap Herald Aug. 24 that is factually incorrect, stating that in our society the tax base rests upon the poor and middle class.

Currently, 51 percent of the American population pays no income tax. Forty-two million Americans are getting food stamps and 100 million get some form of government assistance.

One percent of the population pays more than 60 percent of what the federal government takes in as revenue. When she says the 1 percent owe the society that made them rich a certain amount of payback, I would like to know who decides what and how much they owe? What does she owe?  When April 15 rolls around, how many citizens are rushing with a smile on their face to the Post Office to pay their fair share, or when the tax form states “refund,” they respond, “Oh, no, let the government have my refund. I want to pay my fair share.”

Don’t look to the 1 percent to solve the problems of our country, look to yourself. Each election you elect the same politicians who promise, don’t deliver and yet you expect a different result. When John Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” he was not just talking about the 1 percent.

C. Penard
Hansville