To the Editor:
Just a couple things in response to Tim Beck’s recent letter. One, the Interstate Highway system under President Dwight D. Eisenhower was established in 1956, a significant amount of time after World War II ended. Both Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon in proposing the project to the American people explained there were many reasons for the interstate system. “A modern, efficient highway system is essential to meet the needs of our growing population, our expanding economy and our national security.” This is from his State of the Union address 1955. “The country urgently needs a modernized interstate highway system to relieve existing congestion, to provide for the expected growth of motor vehicle traffic, to strengthen the nation’s defenses, to reduce the toll of human life exacted each year in highway accidents and to promote economic development.”
The last speech was given at the Annual Economic Report 1956. In the end, its largest benefits were to the economy and safety of our population, a great example of a federal program supported by public taxes benefiting Americans.
As for the taxes. The average income for someone with an educational degree is $650,000 over someone with just a high school diploma. The people who do not pay taxes as individuals make below $12,000 a year. So individuals who get education beyond high school increase their income, hopefully to the point where they now are part of the tax-paying public. But the benefits are far beyond that in research discoveries, new businesses and innovations, creating jobs and stimulating the economy.
I stand by my statement encouraging state Sen. Craig Wilcox to back President Joe Biden’s plan for free community college education as a benefit to our community and other communities in America.
Jeff Varda
McHenry
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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