Bottled-water tax hurts health care

Gov. Gregoire’s tax on bottled water would affect every person who has sleep apnea or other ailments that call for distilled water for their machines at night.

I have a trach tube in my neck. I have to have a machine put moisture in my lungs every night to live.

I will have to pay more for the tax, at 1 cent an ounce, than I do for the water itself. Wal-Mart distilled water is about $1 a gallon. Taxing 1 cent on every ounce is $1.28 extra. I will be paying $92.16 more for my health care a year for the tax alone on distilled bottled water.

People who have well water unfit to drink because of the bad minerals need bottled water, too, for their health.

No, we don’t need a tax on water that comes in a bottle. I thought we were trying to cut health-care expense down, not up.

Barbara Ann Bell

Snohomish

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