To the editor:

The tragedy in Surfside underscores the importance of reliable infrastructure. We need roads, bridges, electrical car plug ins, trains and, in Florida most specifically, protection from rising sea levels.

But we also need what the Republicans have cut from Biden’s infrastructure bill. Human infrastructure: Actual inspectors that write reports on unsafe structures that policy makers read and then take action to prevent tragedy, day care workers and senior attendants for workers with family concerns.

Even if we accept all assistance must only directly benefit the wealthy in infrastructure improvement, the cost will be over a trillion dollars. What is mystifying to me is the reluctance to let the billionaire class pay for these upgrades that benefit them more than all other Americans. Bill Gates gains more from an expanded broadband than I do. Jeff Bazos of Amazon needs surface roads way more than I need an increase in the traffic of Amazon and air pollution. Why do Republicans insist that these members of the community should be exempt from contributing taxes to pay for this? After all these projects are most beneficial to the princes of industry. The idea is distasteful that I should further subsidize Jeff Bazos by paying user fees to drive on the roads his delivery service relies on. Adding this increased cost to me and other drivers is a selective tax increase. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous. To rob the upgrades for improved school safety scheduled out of COVID funds, so the Ford motor company bears no cost in adding electrical charging stations, is an example of moral bankruptcy.

For years, we have insisted that the poor subsist on public benefits raised only through taxes they themselves disproportionately pay, like sales taxes. Why the Republican double standard when it comes to the elite?

Ellen Starbird

Cape Coral