To the editor:

Gov. Brownback says he supports programs that:

1. raise taxes on the bottom 80 percent.

2. use the proceeds to lower taxes for the top 20 percent.

3. hit the working poor especially hard.

4. abolish the earned income tax credit.

5. for some reason, are expected lead to more future investment and more jobs in Kansas than would any other use of the money.

6. will find money somewhere to make it up to poor people .

7. will somehow increase health insurance for poor people.

Each and every part of this program stinks.

1. Raising taxes on ordinary consumers unnecessarily and during a job recession is just plain stupid. It will reduce sales and put people out of work.

2. Giving away tax money to the well-off won’t fix the problem. They consume a smaller share of income, creating fewer jobs than any other group.

3. After 30 years of stagnation for the middle class, this kind of upward income redistribution is just plain upper-class class war.

4. The earned income tax credit is widely acknowledged as about the best anti-poverty program we have.

5. Throwing money at the well off creates investment only in fantasy. Real economic development programs target benefits narrowly to jobs and capital investment. 

6. Historically, Brownback has always chipped away at programs for poor people. He has no credibility to promise poor people any kind of pie in the sky before you die.

7. Brownback opposes universal coverage for poor people, promised by the Affordable Care Act.