The taxing cost of living

Hey, Minnesota politicians: Let’s start putting all Minnesota taxes into our overall cost of living and see how we stack up, state by state. Taxes are a cost like anything else, and this should be included in our annual cost-of-living reporting.

— Tom Shelton, New Brighton

Creating waste, fraud and abuse

The Sunday, March 2, front page story “How Musk executed takeover of federal bureaucracy” shows that this was a corrupt and illegal takeover. It is CREATING waste, fraud, and abuse, not eliminating it.

For example, the third paragraph points out that Musk had “frustrations with government regulations hindering his rocket company, SpaceX”, which other sources have indicated he and Trump are removing.

On page 7, the article “Anti-DOGE protests target Musk’s profits” states that “Musk’s critics say his actions defy Congress’s power to control the U.S. budget and present a host of ways for him to enrich himself.”

The page 17 article “CFPB drops several enforcement actions” shows that cases against several large companies have been permanently closed.

We just received word that one of our friends at the Veterans’ Administration had their research grant cancelled and their research team was fired last Monday. This digital coup makes it clear that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and those they brought with them are now “the enemies within.”

— Dale R. Lutz, Maplewood

‘Over in St. Paul’

One of my recurring irritations is that of local television news commentators using the phrase “Over in St. Paul” when leading into some topic of interest that is centered upon the City of St. Paul and/or its suburbs. It is as if St. Paul is in the hinterland. Coupled with this effrontery is the recent decision by the Minneapolis Star Tribune to rename itself as the Minnesota Star Tribune. Actually, things are going quite well on the St. Paul side of the Twin Cities without the aid of the Star Tribune.

The State Capitol which is the seat of State of Minnesota governance is functioning ably and well within its location in the City of St. Paul. Moreover, the City Council of St. Paul conducts its internal debates and its interactions with the mayor of St. Paul in a productive manner. And, the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper does not presume to attest to life on the Minneapolis side of the Twin Cities.

Lastly, the City of St. Paul has an embedded sense of friendship. For example, I remember an incident many years ago wherein the City of St. Paul decided to forgo daylight savings time out of respect for the statewide agricultural community whose dairy cows depended on the sun rather than the clocks on the wall to determine the time of day. I’m glad that I live on the St. Paul side of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

— Gerry Del Fiacco, Eagan

As the don said

I watched with many the flap between Zelenskyy and President Trump which could be described as two arrogant men bumping heads. But, our Democrats and a couple of RINOs insist on making political hay suggesting some kind of love affair with Putin and Trump. This is ridiculous for so many reasons. Our president’s main goal seems to be making peace in Europe.

As for Trump and Putin, maybe it’s like in a good movie Don Corleone advised his son: “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”

— Mark Ruecker, Roseville

The strong-arming of Zelenskyy

The attempt of President Trump to strong-arm President Zelenskyy into a peace deal with Vladimir Putin, gaining access for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals without any international security force to assure Russia does not resume hostilities, is offensive, shameful and dangerous to us and our NATO allies. He and Vice President Vance made public theater of Zelenskyy’s visit, repeating falsehoods that are not worthy of our leaders. If Trump wants us to live in isolation from the rest of the world, his exorbitant tariffs, forced deportations, mass dismissals of federal employees performing critical services, cavalier foreign policies and redistributing wealth to his billionaire cohorts, we are on a very treacherous path.

— Arthur E. Higinbotham, Northfield

A trade war, for what?

Tariffs are coming. The higher prices for certain imported products and energy resources will be passed on to the final consumer.

When we file our income tax returns, we typically are credited for income taxes withheld or paid to determine the final amount of taxes that we owe.

With the increased prices, we the consumers are paying the tariff taxes indirectly. Will Congress determine a way for consumers to get credit on our income tax returns for tariff taxes paid?

Shame on countries who have used tariffs on U.S. products for years, increasing our prices. I agree with the reciprocal principle, of tit for a tat, eye for an eye.

However, Canada and Mexico have been our reliable trading partners. Now we’ve come up with lame excuses to impose tariffs on both countries. So both countries, our trading partners are responding, tit for a tat, eye for an eye. We’ve started a trade war. Why?

Nobody wins. It just mindlessly increases the cost on both sides of borders.

— Barry Siebert, St. Paul