Letters to the Editor

as a tax payer i will be apauled if they extradite yhis man for a crime 30 years old. this man poses no threat to society the cost of extradition medical expenses housing. if the state wants to waste money and the prosecuter wants him so bad let the prosecutor pay all expenses not my tax dollars.leave him in north carolina. adam bandiere berlin md.

Governor O'Malley, by mandating reductions of 15 percent in electricity use by 2015 (based on 2007 usage rates) and forcing state utilities to produce 20 percent of their energy from solar, wind and other renewable fuels by 2022 you are going to make the energy situation worse.
Expect rolling blackouts and price increases. Increasing renewable energy from 1.3% to 20 % in the next 14 years would be a huge challenge, to say the least. Renewable energy sources cannot keep up with demand, even with conservation.

The technical problems both environmental and energy are with transportation, not stationary generating plants. We have the technology to do the latter, easily. Loosening regulations to build new nuclear (no CO2) and clean coal fired plants would increase electrical generation capacity and is the correct answer. The legislature must override this mandate otherwise the governor is going to turn Maryland into a third world country.

"The only true measure of tax fairness is the tax rate paid by wealthy taxpayers compared to the rate paid by middle- and lower-income citizens."

So that's why the top rate is about 35%, which no one but the very wealthy pay.

Here's fair....if I pay 25% on $50,000, my tax is $12,500. If I pay 25% on $100,000, my tax is $25,000. RICH PEOPLE PAY MORE TAXES EVEN IF THE RATE IS THE SAME, WHICH IT IS NOT. IT IS HIGHER FOR HIGHER INCOME PEOPLE.

"The reason wealthy taxpayers pay so much is that they get such a large share of the nation's income..."

And this is somehow injust? Or do you think it's good policy to penalize performance?

"there is no evidence that reducing taxes increases revenue..."

No. It only happened in the '80s after the Reagan tax cuts and in the period after the 2003 tax cuts Bush initiated.

Don't equate increased spending with increased revenues, both of which happened after both of the recent tax cuts.

Excellent points, Douger, but you re arguing with liberals, and they never let facts get in the way of a good social crusade!