There are at least three good reasons to let the Bush tax cuts for folks making over a quarter million dollars a year expire as scheduled on Dec. 31.

First, we need the money to help close our budget deficit.

Not all debt is bad, but our fiscal situation has gotten seriously out of whack.

We have engaged in huge enterprises – including invasions of two foreign lands and a new prescription drug coverage plan for all our seniors – while at the same time cutting taxes on those best able to pay for them.  

This is nonsensical and the nonsense has to stop.

Next, allowing the high-end tax cuts to expire while continuing those for the 98 percent of Americans who bring in less than $250,000 a year would restore some balance to our tax code, which is seriously skewed in favor of the wealthy.

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One example: Passive income (money that makes money, like dividends and capital gains) is taxed at as little as half the rate of money made from work (salaries and wages). Ending the high-end cuts would be a first step toward greater fairness.

Finally, we have public needs – ranging from potholed roads to crumbling schools to elder care – that need funding.  

Spending reductions have to be part of the deficit solution, and the administration and Congress have already agreed to a trillion dollars in spending cuts over the next decade.

But there are also smart, targeted pubic investments that should be made to strengthen our economy and society.

Sen. Susan Collins recently voted against extending the high-income tax cuts (though she voted against continuing the middle-income ones as well).  

We need her and Sen. Olympia Snowe to show their independence by supporting a balanced approach to deficit reduction and voting to let the high-income tax breaks expire on schedule.

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Victoria Simon

York

 

President Obama says that the rich are not paying their fair share of taxes. I agree with him.

I propose a federal tax system that has the top 1 percent pay 35 percent of all federal taxes, the top 5 percent pay 60 percent and the top 50 percent pay all taxes.

The bottom 50 percent won’t have to pay any federal taxes at all.

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While this system may appear unfair to the rich it should satisfy President Obama’s requirement that the rich at least pay their fair share.

The beauty of this proposed tax system is that we would not have to make any changes at all and just leave things as they are.

Russ Hughes

Richmond

 

Solution to homelessness must be multifaceted

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Thank you for calling attention to the persistent and complex problem of homelessness in our community and particularly for pointing out that a solution to homelessness is not a simple matter of providing more beds in shelters. As you’ve noted, a solution must be multifaceted, addressing the underlying causes of homelessness: mental illness, substance abuse, lack of affordable housing and joblessness.

As head of The Opportunity Alliance, a nonprofit serving the needs of the homeless and those at risk of homelessness, I can attest to the fact that mitigating the underlying causes of this problem involves community-wide resolve and a concerted effort.

In our outpatient mental health clinic here in Portland, we currently serve nearly 1,300 clients. All live with severe mental illness: anxiety disorders that include PTSD, mood disorders and co-occurring disorders of mental illness and substance dependence.

A staggering 40 percent are coping with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. A quarter of our clients are homeless and many more are at risk of homelessness; many have no, or little means to pay for their treatment.

Another, often overlooked, homeless population that we serve is youth age 13 to 18. Many times they are parents themselves, pointing to the cyclical and inter-generational nature of homelessness.

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A solution to the underlying causes will take a long-term commitment and will require collective ownership of the problem by everyone in our community: federal and state agencies, nonprofit community organizations, social services agencies, healthcare providers, foundations and community members like you and me, all working in tandem with the homeless themselves.

The good news is that when we have worked together with our community partners to address the many complex facets of this problem, we have seen positive and long-term change for the homeless is possible.

Michael J. Tarpinian

Portland

 

Who pays for teaching students the second time?

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As a centrist, I find obfuscation by either the right or left side of our political spectrum offensive.

Your article portraying those five young people who are products of Maine’s K-12 system as the norm is such obfuscation.

While I am happy for them and applaud their success, theirs is not the situation I see every day.

As an instructor in the Maine Community College System for several years, I can assure you Maine’s K-12 has failed many of our young people. In 2010, 52 percent of the high school graduates entering the community college system needed remedial math or English courses. In 2011, it was 54 percent.

Last week, I assisted in signing up new students for this fall. As before, many students needed remedial classes.

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One young lady needed remedial writing, all 13 basic writing classes were already full and the semester doesn’t start for a month. That’s 156 more K-12 students who have graduated but don’t have the skills they were supposed to have been given in K-12.

While I’m sure the teachers unions will blame No Child Left Behind, a well-meaning but failed program, there’s significantly more involved than just that.

There is a union culture that precludes individual accountability and promotes mediocrity.

The question now is, whose responsibility is it to pay for these students again?

They or their parents paid the first time through their taxes. The second time shouldn’t be their responsibility. They didn’t get the value they paid for.

As with any business, those who collect for services rendered but don’t actually render the services need to be held accountable. While I don’t always agree with Gov. LePage, when it comes to education, he’s dead on.

Jack Buckley

Durham

 


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