Tax break gimmicks; Iran possibilities; Catholic policies; prison sentences

Tax break gimmicks

Having seen close up Fort Worth’s checkered past in dealing with tax deals for big business, I’ll go with state Sen. Konni Burton regarding the Facebook deal. (“Burton, Geren disagree about Facebook deal,” July 19 editorial)

The original intent of tax incentives was to get companies to locate in economically disadvantaged areas.

Motheral Printing was awarded an abatement to move to southeast Fort Worth. They went to CentrePort and still got the abatement.

Radio Shack and Pier 1 won abatements of 30 and 20 years, respectively. Radio Shack then sold the property and it wound up with Tarrant County College. So much of it’s off the tax rolls. The city housing authority bought other properties to house the former Ripley Arnold residents. Those properties are also off the tax rolls.

Intel and Dell got huge tax deals, then didn’t come.

TIFs and abatements are sucking money from suburban taxpayers.

State Rep. Charlie Geren got us House Bill 2639 that led to creation of the Trinity River Vision Authority and a billion-dollar development program that had no voter input and has no political oversight.

Tax gimmicks help big business, politicians, lobbyists and builders and developers, but the largesse doesn’t trickle down to the average taxpayer.

— Clyde Picht, Fort Worth

Iran possibilities

The argument over the proposed nuclear deal with Iran reminds me of a fable wherein the king was present to witness the execution of a criminal he had sentenced to hang. Before the trapdoor dropped, however, the prisoner gained the king’s attention.

“If you will postpone my hanging 10 months, I will teach your horse to talk,” the prisoner said.

The king pondered for a moment and then thought, “What do I have to lose?” The reprieve was granted.

After the prisoner came down from the gallows, his friend said, “What are you thinking? You know you can’t teach a horse to talk.”

The prisoner replied: “Who knows? The king may die, or the horse may talk.”

I cite this fable to point out that many things can happen, especially in Iran. Almost surely the current ayatollah will die, or the young people in Iran may decide they like Western ways more than Sharia.

At least it will give us time to produce another crop of young men and women to sacrifice in a futile effort to solve a Muslim problem that has festered for 1,400 years

— J. William ORear, Fort Worth

Catholic policies

While I applaud Pope Francis’ recent expressions of concern for the poor and the environment, it is important to note the role of the Catholic Church in both of these crises facing the world today.

Centuries-old policies promulgated by the patriarchal and condescending hierarchy of the Catholic Church have denied basic choices to women, primarily access to effective and available birth control.

Thus, the church’s policies have sown exactly that which it now reaps: too many people in the world living in poverty and polluting the environment.

Before “taking the speck” out of the eye of the world, Pope Francis should “remove the log” from the eye of his own institution.

— William W. Thorburn, Benbrook

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Tax break gimmicks; Iran possibilities; Catholic policies; prison sentences."