Imagine my surprise reading lengthy and so-serious accounts of how difficult it is to attract doctors, surgeons and medical specialists of all sorts to Maine because of the 3 percent surtax on incomes over $200,000. Oh my, the wringing of hands.

Mainers who voted on this last November have no idea of the burden on poor souls stuck in that $300,000 tax bracket. An extra $3,000 in tax to help pay for the education of our children? Nope: an insurmountable burden on that extra $100,000 of income.

Even the Maine Legislature’s budget negotiators are in a tizzy trying to roll back the citizen initiative. No need.

Here’s a simple solution for the hospital boards to consider: pay the hard-pressed prospects $3,000 more. OK, $3,090 to cover the tax. Give them a bonus. It’s a deductible business expense for you, an additional incentive to the docs to live and practice in beautiful Maine, and $3,000 toward schooling our kids. Win-win-win.

Enough of the histrionics, please. Don’t even try to explain that the health care system cannot afford to do this. It’s a 1 percent raise when our health insurance is up 20 percent or more. And they all get to live with us in Maine, the way life should be.

Douglas Posson

Rockport

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