To the editor:

Our Florida Sen. Scott insists that social cohesion can best be accomplished by raising taxes. Currently wages in America are so parsimonious that fewer than 50% of our residents meet the $2,000 per year earnings that trigger a tax obligation.

Our senator insists raising taxes will ensure that we all have “skin in the game.” But the game appears to be rigged to favor the billionaire class so lopsidedly, that many of them do not pay taxes either. Sen. Scott seems unwilling to propose legislation that would motivate the rich to pay a share.

I think that what invests our neighbors to civic matters is citizenship. Perhaps the Florida political class entrenched in Republican grudges could spend less time demonizing children, banning books and preventing Black citizens access to vote in the upcoming Florida elections. I think immigrants, be they from Ukraine or Haiti, should be allowed to register for citizenship within six months of entering the USA.

Skin in the game means a voice in the body politic. I’m all for it. Sen. Scott’s proposal to tax the unemployed and pensioners and cannibalizing the poor? That seems the wrong road to civic engagement.

Ellen Starbird

Cape Coral