Liberals unfairly rip GOP tax cuts

Randi Scheurer's response to the Herald's endorsement of Melissa Bean included the following statement, "We also care about fair taxation. Nobody likes taxes. But somebody has to pay them. Melissa Bean and her Republican allies have made sure that their wealthy donors are not the ones who do."

It is this class envy, class warfare rhetoric and what I believe is patent dishonesty of many on the liberal or progressive side of the political spectrum that so poisons our public discourse.

Ms. Scheurer ignores the truth at her own peril, but here it is. Since the tax cuts initiated by Republicans in President Bush's first term, tax revenues have increased by 28 percent while the number of taxpayers in the lower 50 percent (tax returns below $30,881) of all taxpayers has decreased by 23 percent.

Further, in 2005, the latest year for which data is available, the top 10 percent of income earners (those above $103,912) pay 70.7 percent of all personal income taxes, up from 64.9 percent since the Republican-sponsored changes were implemented.

One more inconvenient fact to add some clarity to this debate, 26.6 million tax filers out of 104.3 million total filers, had a tax rate of about 1.4 percent on their gross income. I would argue this is hardly a burden.

As for the "wealthy donors" she refers to, clearly they didn't get too much of a return on their investment.

If the voters place the taxing power in the hands of Democrats like Ms. Scheurer and like-minded class warfare demagogues or even Melissa Bean for that matter, and they reverse the Republican tax policy, all of our taxes will be going up, up and, oh yes, up.

Joe H. Heater

Palatine