Don't overtax working families

President Obama and the Democratic Congress inherited an utter financial mess from President Bush: wars we can't afford, unjustified tax breaks for rich, evisceration of social safety nets and vital public services. President Obama is right to extend tax breaks for middle class and low-income families. With housing values underwater and unemployment high, chipping away at the monumental deficits by raising taxes on working families is punitive.

But, the rich must carry their weight. The middle class already subsidizes the rich because regressive Social Security taxes tax only the first $106,800 of income, exempting every dollar earned beyond that. That's not only unfair but unsustainable.

America cannot afford to let affluent Americans squirrel away more than they justifiably need while equally hardworking Americans lead increasingly marginal and precarious lives. The affluent lived perfectly comfortably under Clinton-era tax rates. That's a lifestyle to which they are accustomed without shifting increasing burdens onto families struggling to maintain modest middle-class lifestyles that are a distant memory to the affluent.

Steve Frenkel

Evanston