Chaz (Holmes), after reading your article “Poor will not see tax relief” (Courier-Herald, Jan.5) I am forced to reply. As you state in your editorial, your job is to verify facts. I have a few for you.

Fact 1 – No, the poor will not see tax relief because they pay no taxes.

Fact 2 – The Tea Party, as you put it, is “an embarrassing blight on our country.” You need to tell the readers why this group is an embarrassment.

Fact 3 – The top 10 percent of wage earners in this country pay 60 percent of taxes. Do you really want them to pay more?

Fact 4 – Obama “caving in” to the Republicans on a tax cut package did not add $900 billion to the national debt. This is simply money that is not collected by increasing taxes.

Fact 5 – People don’t go to Moneytree for payday loans because “Obama can’t stomach taxing the middle class or the rich,” They do not go there because the Republican Party has passed legislation “further crippling the poor.”

Fact 6 – Your statement, “the poor in this country have never had any recourse” is false. The poor in this country have more opportunity than anyone on earth.

Fact 7 – There are a lot of Americans who are very concerned about fiscal responsibility. Because our national debt has increased by $2.53 trillion in the past 19 months many Americans did vote Republican. You need to explain to the readers why voting Republican is like “hiring Roman Polanski to babysit.”

In closing, I would add that wisdom comes with maturity, with years of living. Progress is not made by belittling another point of view and a wise man would listen in order to learn. Like my dad told me, “God gave you two ears and one mouth.”

Lee Pohlman

Enumclaw