Cheers should stop whining, obey law
This is in reference your article "Ex-mayor, top officer accused of bullying bar" [April 17]. I'm really amazed that you didn't contact Councilman Stan Kawczynski since it is a well-known fact that Cheers Bar is Mr. Kawczynski's favorite hangout.
The message that I am getting from this frivolous lawsuit is: When you can't continue to break the rules and get away with it, then whine to the courts that your civil rights are being violated!
Sunnyvale has one of the best public safety departments in the United States, as evidenced by our low crime rate, etc. Why don't you ask other Iranian businesses in Sunnyvale how they feel about our city and our Public Safety Department? I personally know of two other Iranian businesses in Sunnyvale that have nothing but the highest praise for Chief Regan Williams and former Mayor Frances Rowe. So come on, Cheers: Get real and obey the law!
D K. Schumann
Sunnyvale
Tax refunds are actually loan repayments
In the recent annual income-tax frenzy, it was possible to overhear relieved and gratified taxpayers say, "I got this really big refund check!"
Let me submit that it was really a repayment of a bad, no-interest loan by a shaky debtor relative, namely likable old Uncle Sam. There may come a day when lovable old Uncle Sam shrugs and says, "Sorry, I haven't got enough to give it all back now." In effect, he does that now with continual deficit budgets and a rapidly-mounting total debt. The after-tax dollars he "gives" back in April each year are not as valuable as they were when earned and then loaned to him in the previous calendar year.
When Uncle Sam gets to hold part of your money away from your usage and control for all or part of 15 1/2 months every year, you have made him a bad loan, voluntarily. His failure to pay you interest for money withheld merely because you would rather not risk a small, predictable underpayment, is a subliminal form of the old protection racket, based on your carefully cultivated fear of the Internal Revenue Service.
There is a way to beat this racket within the tax code. It involves sitting down with your tax preparers, during their slack season, and adjusting your W-4 form to underpay each week by an amount, which will not trigger penalties when you file your annual tax return.
Look into it: it's worth your time, to regain full control of your own money by using the law appropriately!
Robert H. Golsow, P.E.
Advantage Engineering
Sunnyvale
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 1, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.