State government officials cannot seem to add or subtract, otherwise, the state’s budget wouldn’t be coming up short all the time. They can’t blame it on their computers, or can they?

Maybe they should give the ones they have to the schools, where they would be used for games and photos, and let state officials take new ones so they can keep track of the budget.

About two weeks ago, I bought a carton of cigarettes that cost $47. This week, the price was between $61 and $69. Whoever is doing that is crazy if he thinks the people are going to keep paying all those tax increases to cover the state’s mistakes.

There has got to be a committee of elected officials that could keep track of those illegal tax raises (without voter approval). It’s not fair to target smokers. Why aren’t other items, such as liquor, soda, coffee, etc., taxed? Anything but cigarettes again.

And the price of gasoline is getting out of sight. When the price of a barrel of oil goes up 2 cents, the price of heating oil goes up 10 cents. What’s the story? If the barrel price goes down 2 cents, heating oil doesn’t go down 10 cents; sometimes not even 2 cents.

The state needs to hire some accountants to get the state running right. It doesn’t take 250 people to do the job of 12. Time to clean house. Next election, people should vote for people with degrees and good credentials.

Freeman Lewis, Lewiston