Our taxes went up a lot

Just thinking: The Valley News had an article about how Hartford is working hard to keep the tax rate down for next year, partly due to COVID-19 (“Town seeks to keep budget in check,” Nov. 9).

At the same time, Lebanon does a revaluation knowing that values will be way up (“Demand drives up property values,” Nov. 3), and then says the tax rate went down, yet somehow our house taxes are way up.

How much did your taxes go up in Lebanon? Ours went up a whole lot.

SEL SANBORN

Lebanon

Important line was missing from election results story

I am writing about the article, “Cheers, doubt in the Valley” (Nov. 8). I liked the balance of quotes from supporters of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. But to me, there was one glaring omission: The fourth paragraph mentions that “Trump … cast doubt on the integrity of the election and refused to commit to the customary transfer of power.”

I wish there had been one more line in this paragraph, something like, “Trump has offered no specifics to justify his opinion.” This additional line would have informed the public that there is no factual basis for Trump’s claim. It would possibly have contributed to fewer Sunday Valley News readers giving credence to Trump’s position.

Perhaps most important, it would have helped to fulfill the press’ responsibility to cover the news in a way that safeguards democracy.

JOANNA CARR

Canaan

The Democrats’ malleable and self-serving principles

As is evident from their reactions to the recent late-term Supreme Court nomination and the current challenges to the purported election results, the greater the Democrats’ outrage the more certain it is that they have done, are doing, and/or will not hesitate to do whatever sparked it. And if their behavior over the last four years was meant to inspire confidence in the integrity of the election process, the endeavor was undertaken with the usual adherence to their malleable and self-serving principles, as well as the usual disregard for the consequences.

In addition, Joe Biden’s claim that his party’s stated objectives can be achieved without raising taxes on the middle class (not to mention the cost of living, rises in which are most onerous at the bottom of the economic scale) serves to show the extreme difficulty of determining where a Democrat’s ignorance and credulity end and his presumption of yours begins.

ANTHONY STIMSON

Lebanon

Why no social distancing in evidence at Biden rally?

Watching the big crowds in Wilmington, Del., it looked too much like a Donald Trump rally. What happened to social distancing? Why in the world were Joe Biden and Kamala Harris doing this in person?

JENNY VOELKER

Hanover

Fooling the eye

Trompe l’oeil is a visual illusion. Trump l’oeil is idiocy used to trick the populous into the misperception of genius.

GEORGE T. HATHORN

Hanover