To the editor:
I question the fairness of the Bush administration's proposed income tax revisions. The wealthy, mainly though corporate holdings and corporate earnings, have been supported by the generosity of the federal government and the taxes of ordinary citizens for many decades.
It is fairly simple: if you want to increase your profits, you need to sell to more customers. In the early 19th Century the federal government financed canals to facilitate movement of goods. By mid-century, officials in Washington decided to give railroad companies large grants of land, which they sold to finance railway building. Incidentally, some of our forebears bought that land, and that helped to provide customers for merchandise and demand for service to ship grain and cattle.
In the 20th Century it began to make sense to have workers who could read and write and compute figures. Mostly individuals paid taxes for education; corporations paid only incidentally not a major share. Now it is especially clear, if you want to get ahead financially, you'd better get a college education. Without these educated sons and daughters, the corporate entrepreneurs would hardly advance to their multi-million dollar incomes. Unless there is some specific research a corporation wants, which they will fund, it is mostly our taxes that pay for education.
Corporations still look to sell their goods to the greatest number of customers and we pay their way. Who do you think pays most of the taxes to fund highway construction? We all pay state and federal gas tax. If you fly, tax is added on to help pay for airport facilities. All along the Gulf coast and up the Atlantic seaboard, the inter-coastal canal was built and is kept open by our tax money.
In so far as federal taxes on upper incomes are kept fairly high it may be fair use of federal money to build these facilities to improve commerce of goods and services. Consequently we all live somewhat better. The question is how much better off should the wealthy be, and how much more powerful because of their wealth is "fair." Taxes on corporations and the wealthy are much higher in other countries than in the United States.
The upper income-earners don't need or deserve a 6.6 percent tax break. They've had tax breaks and federal largesse for decades!
Mark Larson,
Lawrence
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