Dan Woikes column (Presidents tax cut doesnt benefit everyone, SN 2/23) has shown that he can master basic mathematics. He is utterly correct that a percentage of a large number actually is larger than the same percentage of a smaller number. Way to go.
What he fails to understand is that the rich in America pay the majority of federal income taxes. Therefore, they should receive a bigger tax cut.
A large number of poor people in America dont pay any federal income taxes. And do you know what? They arent going to get any tax cut.
Perhaps they could better spend the tax cut given to the rich. What do poor people spend more money on than rich people? Several things - such as cigarettes, fattening foods and lottery tickets.
What would a rich person spend $12,000 on? Maybe theyd spend it on their houses. Why should they spend it on furnishings? People dont actually make money selling furnishings for houses, do they? They might buy a new computer or other electronic toys. No one actually makes money making and selling computers or software, right?
If the rich people have kids, they might even employ a college student as a nanny. But college students dont need work, right?
Or they could put the money away in an investment for their future use. This is just downright evil if all they want to do is maybe use it for retirement or sending their kids to college, right? Or maybe using it to make more money. Its evil for rich people to try to get more money using money they already earned. But its just to take the money under the threat of violence and give it to politicians to spend on programs to buy more votes.
Maybe Ive been too harsh on the spending habits of the poor. After all, they cant help the socio-economic condition they are in. The evil immigrant who came to this country with only the clothes on his back and built a thriving business is keeping them down and forcing them to buy junk food and pre-packaged crap. Hes got control over their car and prevents them from driving 10 more minutes to the suburbs to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.
If Woike doesnt think a tax cut will help people get into the middle class, could he please explain this: Kennedy cut taxes in the early 1960s. The result was the economic boom of the later 1960s.
President Reagan cut taxes tremendously, the biggest recipients were the evil rich, and we had the economic boom of the 1980s and 1990s as a result. During those two periods, many people entered the middle class. Blacks entered the middle class in a higher proportion than any other group both times.
It is now 2001. We need a tax cut - especially for the rich.
Gregory Brown
Lyman Briggs chemistry and computer science senior