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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 2017)
Page A-6 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, May 10, 2017 Hooray for less taxes! We hope: by Dr. Glenn Mollette Americans pay too much in taxes. President Trump’s idea to eliminate four of the seven tax brackets is an excellent idea. Most Americans are sick and tired of paying everything they make in taxes. If you enjoy paying taxes and disagree with what I am writing simply write the Internal Revenue Service a check every month and mail them more money. Let’s consider some of the big money people first. A single person making $415,051 is in the upper tax bracket and pays 39.6 percent of their wages. To make our math simple we might as well say 40 percent or about $166,000. This would leave the affluent single person with about $249,000. For all the Americans making minimum wage or living on disabled social security they may wag their heads, point their fingers and say, “That’s a heck of a lot of money and those dang people should be paying a lot more tax than that!” The single person paying this much money on the other hand probably calculates that they are probably carrying seven or eight non-working Ameri- cans and could feel a bit irritated by how much tax they are paying. Let’s stay in the upper bracket and consider two mar- ried people working, filing jointly and making $466,951 will also pay 39.6 percent of their income or let’s say 40 percent. For a round figure they will pay about $186,780 in taxes. This would leave them with about $280,177. This is a lot of money to live on. However, imagine handing the government almost $187,000! The old adage is if you make it then you should pay it. My contention is who wants to work longer hours and harder and then pay most of it in taxes? We have our Congress people to keep up in their lifestyles. We have roads and bridges to maintain. However, everywhere I go I see tolls for roads and bridges. What about our tax dollars? Let’s go to the low bracket people. A single person mak- ing $9,276 is in the 15 percent tax bracket or $1,391 roughly in taxes which is a lot of money! This leaves the single person with only $7,885. I realize there are other considerations and possible deductions but this is simply for analysis and thought. The main point is no one can do much on $9,276 and much less on $7,885. If this person is placed in the 10 percent tax bracket they pay $927 and this is a gain of $464. This is a lot of gaso- line money for someone on such a meager income. However, the standard deduction would nearly double under Trump’s proposal. “We are going to double the standard deduction so a mar- ried couple wouldn’t pay any taxes on the first $24,000 income they earn. So in essence, we are creating a zero tax rate - yes, a zero tax rate for the first $24,000 that a couple earns,” said Gary Cohn, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, dur- ing the news conference which introduced the new plan. The standard deduction for single filers is $6,350 and $12,700 for married couples filing jointly for 2017. Too many Americans have an attitude that it’s okay for the wealthy to pay 39.6 percent and even more but realistically every American gets tax weary. We want a strong military and a strong country along with Medicare and Social Security but more and more tax dollars is not appealing to anyone who has to shell it out. President Trump’s idea will bring some relief to all Americans. Will our country suffer? No. More people will feel like working a little more knowing they can bring more of their paycheck home. His idea of only three tax levels of 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent will encourage the current workforce and stimulate the economy with more working people. Less people working cannot carry this country even if they were paying 50 percent in taxes. A smaller percentage of money from millions more of employed people going to work will generate more money for our government and overall economy in the long run. Trump’s proposed corporate tax rate of 15 percent will also help us keep some jobs and bring some jobs back home. Regardless of your tax bracket, let out a big “hooray for less taxes!” We can only hope. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated columnist and author of 11 books. He is read in all 50 states. Enjoy books by Glenn Mol- lette via all book dealers. Contact him at GMollette@aol.com. Like his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/glennmollette. Church News Seventh-day Adventist Church Asking to Give Let me share a little about my dear friend Janet. She was a relatively new Chris- tian when I first met her. She loved the Lord with all her heart. She had not had an easy life for sure. She lived in a very little house on Deer Creek Road. The more I got to know her the more I was amazed at how she was always help- ing people by physical work, or by gifts of needed money. She was always a good example to me, and everyone who know her. Once she explained to me that the reason she was saving money was so she could help people in need. “Isn’t that what we are sup- posed to do?” she asked. She lived to bless others. She was a very quiet little lady, but when she passed away a couple of years ago, the church was packed, because everyone loved her. Jesus was another example of someone who lived to bless others. We need to have the same devotion, the same self sacrifice that Jesus did. Our mission to the world is not to serve or please ourselves; we are to glorify God by co-operating with Him to win others to Him. Scripture says Jesus spent much time in prayer to His heavenly Father. That was why He was able to heal and help so many in His ministry. Our prayers are not to be a selfish asking, merely for our own benefit. We are to ask that we may give. The principle of Christ’s life must be the principle of our lives. The promise is “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7 One of His last commands to His dis- ciples was “love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34 We can ask God to show us when and where and how He wants us to help others. When problems and difficulties come to us we need trust all with God. When with earnestness and intensity we breathe a prayer in the name of Christ, there is in that very intensity a pledge from God that He is about to answer our prayer, “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Eph. 3:20 All that Christ received from God we too may have. Then ask and receive. The Holy Spirit will take the things of God and show them to you. In one of the parable stories Jesus told, he who asks bread for the stranger, received “as many as he needed.” In the same way, God will give us as much as we need to help others. Just like the missionary nurse I heard on TV the other day. She said she gave her coat to someone who really needed it, and was grateful for God’s gift when her sister sent her a warm coat. Community Bible Church Sing with joy in your heart to the Lord Ephesians 5:18-20 (Paraphrased) 18 Don‘t drink wine until you’re drunk, because that will be destructive to your life and to those around you. Instead, let the Holy Spirit of God fill your life, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to each other and in your hearts as an offering to God. 20 And offer thanks to God our Father for everything in our Lord Jesus, the Messiah’s name. As I was working on this article I began to think about the times I have been told, “My life is empty, just empty!” I understand the feeling only too well. Life, our jobs, the problems, the unfulfilled desires, the defeats, the disappointments, and the struggles, even the people are like so many straws sucking the fullness, the enjoyment, and the comfort out of our lives. I have had people come to me and say, “I am depressed,” and they certainly were, but in many cases at the root was an essential emptiness that family, friends, and good times could not fill. Pastors are not immune to these struggles. Read Psalm 51 or 32, and get a feel for the struggles of a man that Paul, the Apostle, called “a man after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22) Despite his struggles, King David wrote the following in Psalm 40:1-3, “1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. 3He has put a new song in my mouth-- Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.” People attempt to fill the emptiness in their lives with something: relationships, money, friends, food, work, religion, drugs, or alcohol. At best they cover over that emptiness but seldom fill it. For me – and millions upon millions of others – the presence of Jesus in the Holy Spirit has filled the emptiness. It doesn’t meant there are not problems and conflicts in my life, but there is Someone with me Who has promised, “never to leave or forsake” me. The Bible says in Psalm 40:3, “He has put a new song in my mouth,” – and it has been true for me. God bless you. See you Sunday. In Christ, Pastor Dave Places of Worship BRIDGEVIEW COMMUNITY CHURCH 5181 Holland Loop Rd., CJ 541-592-3923 “Come Join the Worship!” Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m. Pastor Sonny Moore www.bridgeviewcc.org * * * 7th DAY ADVENTIST 265 S. Old Stage Rd., CJ Sabbath School - 9:30 a.m. Saturday Worship 11 a.m. Pastor Christian Martin Church (541) 592-3218 Madrone Adventist School 541-592-3330 * * * IMMANUEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 200 Watkins St., CJ Phone 541-592-3876 Pastor Charles Chase Sunday School - 9:15 a.m. Sunday Worship - 9:15 a.m. Child-care for small children *** Illinois Valley Praise Center 28569 Redwood Hwy. CJ Non-denominational Bible-believing Church Sunday school - 9:30 a..m. Sunday Service 10:30 a.m. Thursday Seekers 7 p.m. Youth group Thursday - 7 p.m. www.ivpraisecenter.com COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH Pastor Dave Gordon 113 S. Caves Ave., CJ Office: 541-592-3896 Email: cbccca@gmail.com Sunday Worship - 10:30 a.m. Christian Academy Pre-K to 12th grade Awana - Wednesdays - 6 p.m. * * * ST. PATRICK OF THE FOREST CATHOLIC CHURCH 407 W. River St., CJ 541-592-3658 Fr. William Holtzinger, Pastor Mass - Sunday 11 a.m.. Sacrament of Reconciliation Sunday - 10:30 a.m. Holy Days TBA * * * TAKILMA BIBLE CHURCH 10343 Takilma Road, Takilma Pastor Dan Robinson Bible Study / Prayer Time 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship 11 a.m Wednesday Bible Study 7 p.m * * * First Baptist Church of Selma 18285 Redwood Hwy., Selma 541-597-4169 Pastor Monty Pope Sunday School - 9:45 a.m. Worship - 11 a.m. GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH East River Street & Lewis Court, CJ Annemarie Richardson Lay Pastor. Sunday School - 9:15 a.m. Sunday Worship - 10 a.m. Church Phone: 541-592-2290 www.goodshepherdlutheraniv.net * * * VALLEY EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH 498 Laurel Road, CJ P.O. Box 1248 Pastor Marvin Porter Sunday School - 9:45 a.m. Worship Service - 11 a.m. evfree@frontiernet.net 541-592-6160 * * * FOUNTAIN OF LIFE ASSEMBLY OF GOD 451 S. Junction Ave., CJ 541-592-3956 Pastor Mark McLean Morning Worship 9:30 & 11 a.m. Wednesday - 7 p.m. Adult Bible Study * * * ST. MATTHIAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH 25904 Redwood Hwy., CJ 541-592-2006 Rev. Bryant Bechtold Sunday Worship Service 10:30 a.m. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS 209 S. Junction Ave., CJ Sacrament Meet - 10 a.m. Sunday School - 11:20 a.m. Priesthood, Relief Soc. - 12:10 p.m. Bishop Larry Hammersmith 541-592-3919 * * * Illinois Valley Baptist Church 541-592-6149 102 S. Redwood Hwy. (in the County Building) Sunday Worship 10:30 AM Wednesday Bible Study, Prayer & Youth Program 7:00 PM Friday Ladies Bible Study 11:00 AM * * * Wonder Bible Chapel 11911 Redwood Hwy. Wonder, Ore. Sunday worship 10 a.m. Non-denominational Bible believing Church Sunday School Nursery Youth group meets Sunday 6:30 p.m. Ministry at CBC Sunday, May 14 Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. No Evening Praise and Prayer Happy Mother’s Day! Wednesday NO AWANA See you in September Friday, May 12 Gospel Jam6:30-8 p.m. (Enter at Lister Street) Community Christian Academy Preschool – High School Senior Exercise Class Monday, Wednesday, & Friday 9-10 a.m. in Dining Room
