Government’s take is even higher than that
Re: “Taxes soar for Washington region’s residents,” April 15
David Sherfinski’s article about taxes was egregiously erroneous. My real estate tax bill is higher than those listed, and I am unemployed with an average house. Even if he only meant to include income taxes, the numbers are still too low. The national average income multiplied by the average tax bracket would yield numbers larger than Sherfinski reports.
Clearly he has omitted critical assumptions and information that is needed to correctly understand his claims.
In order to get a fair comparison, in addition to federal and state income taxes, one must include all the county real estate and personal property taxes, as well as all the sales taxes, excise taxes, estate taxes, luxury taxes, licenses, fees, penalties, and other revenue-producing sources such as traffic cams, yada yada.
When those are included, the total tax burden is several times higher than Sherfinksi claims. Without computing the total tax burden, ranking the states is meaningless. Some states with no income tax get their money through other taxes, so their total take is similar.
Doesn’t matter how they tax you, the government still takes way too much.
William Adams
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Children’s health is not the place to balance budget
The Montgomery County government proposes to reduce daily work hours for school health room aides who provide medical supervision and care to our children. They not only treat routine cuts, scrapes and nosebleeds, but also provide emergency care for students with diabetes, asthma, seizures, and anaphylaxis.
Health room aides are on the front line for detecting dangerous and contagious diseases such as H1N1, seasonal flu, and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). They monitor and dispense prescribed medications during school hours and assist others in the care of students with special needs. These duties should be performed by health care professionals, not school secretaries and administrators with little training or experience.
I understand that cuts have to be made in order to balance the budget. However, I do not believe that diminishing the level of service in our school health rooms is the place to start. The care of our children should remain a priority.
Dr. John T. Corrigan
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There’s no way to automate health care
Re: ‘Democrats’ towering deception,” March 21
Michelle Malkin wrote that Congress’ numbers in the health care bill did not add up. Even my teens know that if you increase supply by 35 million new people and you do not increase the supply of
doctors and nurses, prices will rise.
There is no way to automate health care. Even if we are able to import experienced health personnel (it takes up to 10 years to fully educate specialists) it will cost billions to build new hospitals and new medical offices. These costs will have to be passed on. David Walker, the former head of the Government Accountability Office, said that costs would go up under the final bill, which was signed because of unrealistic assumptions on cost cuts and new taxes.
For someone who promised change, the only change we got from President Obama was increased jobs for lobbyists and the people who had to print the health care legislation.
Jim Robinson
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