To the editor:

I certainly agree that our roads need repair; we haven’t even caught up with the damage from last winter. I can, in principle, support some tax increase to help cover this. However, I can’t support any of the sales tax proposals being discussed now. Politicians often resort to sales tax proposals because they think people are too stupid to realize how much they are being taxed if it comes a little bit at a time. They might be right, but still a sales tax hits low-income people harder.

There’s a simple way to fix this: Exempt food purchases (stores, not restaurants) from the sales tax. Low-income people spend a bigger fraction of their income on food, so this will help. I haven’t seen any discussion of this or anything similar mentioned in the press reports. I can’t support any sales tax increase unless some such provision is put in place to reduce the impact on our low-income families.

Adrian Melott,

Lawrence