To the editor:

As I basked in the feel-good aftermath of this November’s elections, I listened to the President of retribution childishly bragging about the cancellation of democratically approved projects in Blue states. It started as a threat to voters not to elect Democrats, and now I’m sure that (the) president will follow through to cut the funding for projects which would have provided a great number of jobs. For now there’s no one to prevent DJT from impetuously getting his way.

But then it dawned on me. In Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, he sees to it that his billionaire donors (Trump doesn’t really have any friends.) are disproportionately pardoned from paying fair levels of taxation. I’m guessing that applies to federal taxes. Soooo…

What’s to stop the billionaires’ state residences from being socked with some hefty tax levies to fill local state coffers? Trump talks about sending powers back to states when it suits him politically. Well, Minnesota and you other 49 states, it’s time to increase your tax revenue with some strategically placed taxes targeting the obscenely wealthy fat cats.

I just saw on television that Colorado has done that very thing to help with the loss of SNAP money. Way to go, Colorado. Such forward thinking sounds a little vengeful (not…It’s just common sense.), but people making over $300,000 per year shouldn’t have need to scurry off to a food shelf to get by.

In the 10 Years After song “I’d Love to Change the World” from 1971, the lyric that has resonated with me for over 50 years is as follows: “Tax the rich, feed the poor ’til there are no rich no more.” The English teacher in me blanches at the concluding double negative, but the sentiment is still alive and well in 2025. It wasn’t “woke” in 1971. It made a lot of sense then, and with the Democrats’ victory in the NYC mayoral race, we’ll see how much sense it makes in the NYC test case.

Here’s another vote in support of its working.

Keith R. Klawitter

Morgan, MN