To the Editor:

Look past the claims and misleading “facts” that the Republicans are putting out to see the reality. The net result from four years of Republican rule is a weaker middle class and a starved education system.

There is absolutely no evidence that a single job has been created in N.C. by the tax breaks to the rich. In fact there is no evidence that any of the Bush tax breaks of the past created any jobs.

The fact is that middle-class incomes are flat and we now will be paying more taxes than before. The so-called tax reform shifted taxes from income tax to new sales taxes. For example, now we have to pay sales tax on the labor charges to service our cars. What the Republicans have done is to shift and hide taxes for the middle class. Only the rich get real tax breaks.

Much has been made of the raises for teachers, but 1,500 teachers will not get raises under the last Gov. Pat McCrory proposal. The facts are that the total funding for education has been cut drastically. About 7,000 teaching positions have been cut, and the state university system has had cuts of more than 25 percent. 

The Republicans claim they have appropriated more money for education, but that does not come close to equaling the funding from the previous sales tax that they cut or the federal funds they lost. The bottom line is that our standing on teacher pay and funding per student have dropped to the bottom of funding in the U.S.

Don’t be fooled by the claims. Look at the facts.

 Norman G. Hoffmann

Waynesville