4
CROSBY-IRONTON COURIER
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015
Opinions
Guest Column
Letter Box
Death tax
Health care
Dear Editor:
The 2015 list of the ten
least friendly states with
death taxes is out and as no
surprise, Minnesota came in
fourth. Even with the minor
changes made by last year’s
legislators, Minnesota continues high taxes on the dead
which the inheritors get to
pay. There is significant distance between Minnesota’s
estate-tax threshold and the
federal exemption of $5.43
million in assets. There are
sixteen states and the District
of Columbia that impose an
estate tax. There are a growing number of states that are
increasing their estate-tax
exemptions more so to discourage retirees from moving
to more tax-friendly states.
If one can believe some of
the legislation introduced this
year is it possible that
Minnesota may adopt the federal estate exemptions.
They may even pass legislation to have the annual tax
forms match the federal
which would save hours of
state tax preparation.
Kent Rees
Emily
Dear Editor:
I have had my usual discussion of Obama Care with a
Republican that has a better
education on economics than
I. They not only took courses
in economics but enjoyed
micro and macro-economics.
Our discussion came to that
Obama Care wouldn’t bring
down the cost of healthcare.
The only way to bring down
the cost of healthcare would
be to cut down the use of
healthcare which could only
be accomplished by getting
rid of the ability of people to
receive free medical treatment. Make people have the
money to pay for healthcare
before they received it. Do
away with the requirements,
for Medicade to cover poor
people and emergency rooms
to treat people who come in
without cash, or an insurance
card. This would eliminate a
lot of tests, and unnecessary
treatment. People that couldn’t afford or gambled, they
wouldn’t need healthcare,
would just die, that isn’t
“rationing healthcare” it is
just free market adjusting.
With less use of healthcare,
nurses and doctors wouldn’t
be needed as much so there
would be a surplus and they
wouldn’t be able to charge as
much, the unions wouldn’t
have as much leverage. That
would bring down the price
of healthcare. My thought on
the matter is that it would
eliminate a lot of babies being
born in a hospital, now days a
simple birth at the hospital is
a round $20,000, most working class people in the child
bearing age couldn’t afford
that so it would happen at
home with the help of dad and
maybe a relative or neighbor
like it used to, it would keep
babies affordable however
there would probably be a lot
of mothers dying of complications. It should bring down
the cost of Social Security
pretty quick as a lot less people would survive long
enough to collect. I sort of
like the affordable care act
even if doesn’t affect me. A
Republican solution scares
me for those who don’t have a
plan that can’t be changed
like relying on Medicare and
Tricare, they are funded by
the government and that
requires taxes which the free
market doesn’t recognize as
being useful, they are a drag
on the very rich. Many of the
very rich don’t subscribe to
the radical free market system
that the greediest among us
subscribe to.
Jesse Nix
Emily
Missing a friend
Dear Editor:
Many years ago, my wife
and I were invited to a party
at an acquaintance’s house.
We did not know exactly
where he lived.
We ran across a bonfire
with a bunch of people sitting
around it and assumed we had
found it.
We sat down and were
offered a beer and drinks and
proceeded to meet new people.
After about a half hour, I
asked “Where’s Jimmy?” The
answer was “Jimmy who?”
We were told “you’re at
the wrong party, but we were
having so much fun, why
don’t you stay at our party?”
We did! This is how we
met Denny and Dolores ,
Devon and Lee and Scott and
Deidra.
In the following years, we
became great friends with
them all, spent holiday, birthdays and experiences with
them.
We will greatly Miss
Dolores, although she may
not miss me, becasue at one
get together, I was talking
with Devon, but looking and
Denny and said, “I see you
brought your mother”. Denny
and Devon laughed their (you
know what) off but Dolores
almost hit me!
We will think of her often.
Scott & Cindy
Montgomery
Deerwood
BLAEDC annual
meeting Feb. 6
The Brainerd Lakes Area
Economic
Development
Corporation (BLAEDC) will
hold its annual meeting on
Friday, Feb. 6 from 11:30
a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the
Arrowwood
Lodge
at
Brainerd Lakes in Baxter. A
champagne chicken lunch
will be served for $15. You
will be billed after the event.
Hear local business perspectives and the featured
presentation.
RSVP to Megan Rehbein
at [email protected].
Library hours
The Jessie F. Hallett
Memorial Library fall and
winter hours (from Labor
Day to Memorial Day) are:
Monday and Wednesday from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday
and Thursday from 10 a.m. to
8 p.m. and Friday and
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. The library is closed on
Sundays.
Crosby residents
reminded to clear
refuse pick-up area
Residents of Crosby are
reminded to shovel or otherwise clear snow in the area of
the alleys where refuse pickup takes place (to your refuse
cart and around it). This is the
only way Range Disposal can
ensure garbage pick-up during the winter months—your
refuse will not be picked up if
the cart and area around it are
buried in snow.
Recycling ink
cartridges at
Hallett Library
Recycle your empty computer printer inkjet cartridges
and help the Jessie F. Hallett
Memorial Library of Crosby.
Business and individual
computer users are asked to
save their empty inkjet and
toner cartridges. These cartridges are collected at the
library. The used cartridges
are then purchased by a firm
for $1 to $2, depending on the
brand and model number.
All proceeds go to the
JFHML Friends Foundation
for the benefit of the library.
Newspaper on the Cuyuna Range…
Understanding IRAs
By Seth Jackson, Financial Advisor
Did you know that you
may be able to contribute to
both a traditional IRA and a
Roth IRA? Contributing to
both may allow you to benefit
from both the tax deductions
of the traditional IRA and the
potential tax-free distributions of the Roth IRA.
And once you retire, this
“tax diversification” can be
especially valuable. If you
have a variety of accounts,
with different tax treatments,
you could decide to first
make your required withdrawals from a traditional
IRA and 401(k) or other
employer-sponsored plan,
followed, in order, by withdrawals from your taxable
investment accounts, your
tax-deferred accounts and,
finally, your tax-free accounts.
Of course, in any given
year, it might make sense to
change the order of withdrawals, or take withdrawals
from multiple accounts, to
help reduce taxes and avoid
moving into a different tax
bracket.
Tax diversification can be
beneficial. After consulting
with your tax and financial
advisors, consider allocating
your retirement plan contributions to provide the flexibility
you need to maximize your
income during your retirement
years.
Seth
Jackson,
your
Edward Jones financial advisor, is located at 101 West
Main Street Crosby.
Guest Column
SENATOR CARRIE RUUD receiving the
Guardian of Small Business Award from NFIB
State Director Mike Hickey.
Ruud receives NFIB award
Senator Carrie Ruud (R—
Breezy Point) has been
awarded the prestigious
Guardian of Small Business
Award from the National
Federation of Independent
Business (NFIB). NFIB is
the state’s largest small business group with 13,000 members statewide
NFIB recognizes legislators at both the state and federal level who have been supportive of small business on
critical issues. To receive the
award legislators had to
demonstrate a supportive voting record for small business
during the 2013-14 sessions
Prioritizing elder care and
transportation, common sense
Guest Column
By Representative Dale Lueck
We are hard at work here
in St. Paul. The governor submits his budget proposal to
the legislature this week. Our
job is to boil down his “wants
list” to a “needs list.”
The citizens of Aitkin and
Crow Wing County have
made it clear we have three
areas in need of immediate
attention. They include:
stronger support for our nursing homes, long-term care
facilities and in home care
providers; our roads and
bridges; and applying common sense where we have
excessive regulation.
Last week I was pleased
to meet with Maria Freidlund,
Administrator at Aitkin
Health Services. We discussed the needs that exist in
caring for our elderly and disabled. Later that morning
Maria testified before the
House Aging and Long Term
Care Committee. She did a
wonderful job identifying real
needs that exist within our
elder and disabled care system.
I have assured Maria that
proper funding for elder and
disabled care is at the top of
my needed list. I look forward
to continued discussions on
how we can do things better
in this area.
Transportation also is at
the
forefront.
Senate
Democrats recently unveiled
a massive tax hike to provide
more transportation funding.
The proposal is unrealistic
and too expensive. The huge
tax increase would be especially hard on family budgets
here in Aitkin and Crow Wing
County.
To make matters worse,
the Democrat proposal would
likely send more than onethird of their tax increase to
buy more metro light rail. I
am working on shifting
already existing tax revenues
to transportation and also
smarter spending of those
existing dollars. This week I
will introduce a bill that
would shift the state general
sales tax we already pay on
auto and truck tires to the
transportation fund.
Before we consider tax
hikes we must match existing
revenue to improve our roads
and bridges.
As I frequently say, we
should think things through
before we start experimenting
with people’s welfare. Area
citizens have brought to my
POINT YOU
IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
attention several regulations
that were put in place during
the last session that don’t
work and now are causing
problems. More to follow on
that subject next week.
I also continue working
closely on issues pertaining to
wolves and the proposed
Sandpiper oil pipeline. Look
for more from me on common
sense solutions in the days
ahead.
Dale Lueck is the state
representative for District 10B
spanning all of Aitkin County
and the majority of Crow
Wing County. Lueck may be
reached
at
[email protected] or
651-296-2365. His legislative
office is 423 Stae Office
Building, 100 Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul,
55155.
Local resident
wins lottery
Jean Doucette of Crosby
has always said, “One of
these days, I’m going to win
and I’m going to win big.”
It turned out she was
right. Doucette’s lucky day
arrived Jan. 19, when she
revealed a $100,000 prize
playing the $100,000 Wild
Cherries scratch game.
Even though Doucette
said she knew this day would
happen, she was still in
absolute shock when it did. “I
had to look at the ticket five
times. I just couldn’t believe
it,” she explained. “I don’t
think it’s really going to sink
in until I see the money in the
bank.”
Doucette said she plans to
help her two college-aged
daughters with their tuition
expenses with part of her winnings. She also hopes to start
traveling. “That’s something
I’ve always wanted to do,”
Doucette said. “I’ve never
really been anywhere—I’ve
never even been on a plane
but California is sounding
like a good place to start!”
Doucette purchased the
winning ticket at C-I
Convenience, located at 1029
Oak St. in Crosby. She
claimed the prize at Lottery
headquarters in Roseville on
Jan. 20.
Proceeds
from
the
Minnesota State Lottery benefit all Minnesotans. Since
1990, the Lottery has raised
more than $2.4 billion for
state programs. The General
Fund has received over $1.3
billion to help fund necessary
functions such as education,
public safety and health and
human services. More than
$975 million has funded
important environmental programs.
Retired veterans tax
break; fighting AIS
By Representative Joshua Heintzman
It was an eventful week at
the legislature as our work was
condensed into three days due
to no official House business
taking place on Monday in
observance of the Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday. While
it was a short week, there were
still a number of important
committee hearings and events
that took place.
My First Bill:
Giving Our Retired
Veterans a Tax Break
On Thursday, I was honored to have my first bill officially introduced in the House.
HF 299 would exclude retired
members of the military from
paying state income taxes.
This legislation will be a great
help to military veterans who
would like to retire and begin a
second career in Minnesota.
States that have exempted
retired military personnel from
income taxes tend to see a large
return on their investment.
Their retired military residents
have begun lucrative second
careers; creating businesses and
bringing new revenue and jobs
into the state that would have
otherwise not existed. Iowa
enacted similar legislation last
January and I believe that it’s
time Minnesota does the same.
Fighting Aquatic Invasive
Species
The Aquatic Invasive
Species (AIS) issue and how
we attempt to neutralize it is
something that is of great
importance to our part of the
state. Our district’s lakes are
our greatest economic assets as
they drive our tourism and fishing industries. Preserving
them for future generations is of
the highest priority. In an
effort to address the AIS problem and with the best of intentions, a previous legislature
passed a new requirement for
anyone transporting watercrafts
with a trailer to pass an online
Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS)
certification course and receive
a sticker from the DNR that
would be placed on the trailer
as proof of having completed
the course. This requirement is
set to go into effect July 1.
As you can probably guess,
there are already problems with
the implementation of this system, not to mention the logistical nightmare that is bound to
occur for our area’s resorts having to inform out-of-state
patrons of their need to pay for
and complete an on-line course
before they are allowed to
transport their boat to
Minnesota. Many Republican
legislators including myself are
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working on a bill that would
repeal this law and begin working on other ways we can more
effectively address the problems
that AIS poses to our state’s
lakes, rivers, and streams. I am
also in communication with
local lake associations and the
DNR to find ways we can focus
our resources on direct enforcement in dealing with AIS.
2015 March for Life
Thank you to those who
came to the Capitol Thursday to
participate in this year’s March
for Life. It is inspiring to see citizens from all over the state congregate on the Capitol steps to
peacefully demonstrate against
our nation’s abortion laws. As a
pro-life legislator, I am committed to continuing our fight in
protecting our most vulnerable.
Local Events and
Recognition
This past fall, the Brainerd
Public School District received
six National Blue Ribbon
awards. Of the 951 Minnesota
elementary schools, only eight
were chosen as Blue Ribbon
schools and six of those eight
are in the Brainerd School
District. Congratulations to
teachers, staff, and students,
that’s awesome! I was honored
to attend an awards ceremony
on Friday recognizing the
Brainerd School District’s hard
work and dedication to helping
our students gain a world class
education. The schools in our
area are a model to the rest of
the state on excellence in education.
On Saturday, the annual
Brainerd Jaycees Fishing
Extravaganza was held on Gull
Lake. The Jaycees are a great
group that do a lot of good work
within our community.
Staying Connected
“Liking” my Facebook page
and “following” my Twitter
account are both great ways to
stay connected with what is
going on here in St. Paul.
If you are planning on being
in St. Paul this session, please
feel free to contact my office by
phone at 651-296-4929 or via email at rep.josh.heintzeman@
house.mn to set up an appointment. It would be an honor to
speak with you and discuss
ways we can make Minnesota
better.
Josh Heintzeman is the state
representative for District 10A
in Crow Wing County. He may
be reached at 651-296-4333.
His legislative office is 533 State
Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
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Continuing the Crosby Courier, Crosby Crucible,
Ironton Ranger and Deerwood Enterprise
of the Minnesota legislature.
Lawmakers in the Senate were
scored on seven important
votes for small business.
“Senator Ruud is a real
friend of small business and
we are happy to announce that
she has earned the NFIB
Guardian of Small Business
Award,” said Mike Hickey,
State Director.
Ruud encourages constituents to contact her Capitol
office at 100 Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd, State
Office Building, Room 25 St.
Paul, MN 55155, by phone at
651-296-4913, or via e-mail at
sen.carrie. [email protected].
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