This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

In the Nov. 29 Tribune, there is a story regarding Utah tax policies that for the past two decades have cost the education system $1.2 billion per year. In the Nov. 30 Tribune, there is an article about Utah business leaders pitching a tax hike for 2018 to raise $750 million in annual funding.

Isn't that throwing money down the same rabbit hole?

From 1958, when I started school in the Salt Lake School District, until I graduated in 1971, in the Granite School District, I went through two teacher strikes (Salt Lake District) and countless old books.

The Utah Legislature for years has short-changed the K-12 and higher education of much needed funding. The biggest question regarding the Nov. 29 article is: Why did it take two decades to realize that much needed money was being lost?

Maybe the Legislature will do the right thing in the upcoming legislative session. Yeah right.

I put the chances of that happening as great as my winning the next Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes.

Charles C. Waldo

West Jordan