Using “simple math,” Rick Kiser (Letters, Jan. 1) claims that a fare box on each Island Transit bus would pay for the service and reduce our sales taxes. Some newspaper editors and others advocate donating to charities and educational institutions and paying user fees in parks. Two dozen or so volunteers who spent many hours, outdoors in bitter cold, between Thanksgiving and Christmas bell-ringing (i.e., begging) in Oak Harbor for the Salvation Army and various nonprofit organizations would disagree.

At least 1,000 people passed by those kettles every day for a month. Many avoided donating altogether, some made sure we knew they already donated at another location, and some complained about the solicitations they receive in the mail all year long. The total collected was less than $30,000, a bit more than 2009, while the United Way and many other charities reported reduced donations for the year.

Island Transit refuses to allow the United Way to install a collection box on each bus that would be emptied once a day by a volunteer. A fare box that would increase overhead and decrease the number of riders would be equally impractical.

Island County spends over $1.1 million a year to assess individual property taxes. Multiply that by 39 to estimate how much it costs statewide.

Every business that has a payroll could deduct state income taxes (along with the federal income taxes it already deducts) and send them, instead of sales and B&O taxes, to the state department of revenue. Self-employed people (or their tax preparers) who already file federal income taxes could also file state income taxes for the price of another stamp or another e-file. People who pay no federal income tax would also pay no state income tax. Result: more revenue, vastly reduced overhead and much fairer taxes.

Every year, our members of Congress have to convince Congress to renew our sales tax deduction because taxpayers in most other states deduct state income taxes, which are both easier to calculate and result in a bigger deduction.

The Tax Foundation’s data for the last 25 years shows that a state income tax of 10 percent, all by itself, would provide more revenue than Washington has ever received.

A 14th-century friar, Father William of Ockham, said, “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity,” or as we might say, “Keep it simple, stupid.” It would work in the 21st century, too.

Jim Bruner

Oak Harbor