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Keep tighter leash on letter writers

I am writing to suggest that letters to the editor be held to higher standards than currently seems to be the case. The two standards are civility and factual accuracy.

In a letter posted to your website July 17, the writer is protesting the Affordable Health Care Act. It specifically refers to members of Congress who will not vote to rescind the Act as “traitors.” Political ideology does not make those who differ with us traitors to our county. I suggest that letters with such poison should be edited to keep them civil without destroying the view of the writer.

In a letter on the AHCA posted July 19, the writer stated, “the act will tax all real estate transactions with a flat 3.8-percent tax on the gross sale price, further eroding the marketability of property.” Based on the law and an article in the Daily Herald July 13, this is factually incorrect.

The tax only becomes a possibility if your adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 as an individual or $250,000 as a couple. This is approximately 2 percent of all taxpayers.

A second fact is that most home sales exclude the first $500,000 of profit from capital gains tax. If you are in the upper 2 percent of adjusted gross income and your profit from the sale exceeds $500,000, the 3.8-percent tax only applies to the profit that exceeds $500,000. If I were fortunate to be in that bracket, I would be happy to pay the tax.

I would suggest the Daily Herald annotate factual errors in letters that are published rather than give the error any validity.

Royce M. Blackwell

Elgin

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