Letters to the Editor

Can't tax citizens into prosperity

Karen Heller states that Mitt Romney enjoys "a lower tax rate than workers dependent for income on jobs" ("GOP's rich men strive to be regular guys," Wednesday). Please read Colin McNickle's article on the same day's editorial page: "Romney's 15% tax rate higher than most." The 15 percent tax rate refers to investment income, which is taxed at a lower rate than earned income.

There is no country that can tax its citizens into prosperity. But bad tax policy can certainly limit prosperity.

I was a representative in industrial sales for 40 years, starting in 1969. There were hundreds of manufacturing plants in this area that have either closed or moved away. A messed-up tax system and overregulation were the causes of this situation. I saw it happen personally. K Street lobbyists in Washington have helped give us a tax code made up of more than 70,000 pages of confusion that no one can figure out.

William Ruane, Garnet Valley, ruane-bill@comcast.net

GOP: Greedy Old Party

How can it be that Mitt Romney makes more in one day through investments than the average American does by working an entire year, yet pays only 15 percent in taxes?

Isn't this a very strange, bizarre, and distorted scenario? The GOP has a whole lot of explaining to do, starting with the infamous Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent, if it doesn't want to become known as the Greedy Old Party.

David W. Long, West Chester, davidwarrenlong@comcast.net

State of the campaign speech

The American people wanted solutions to the economic mess and high unemployment in the State of the Union ("Obama draws the battle lines," Wednesday). Instead, what we got was a campaign speech full of finger-pointing and empty rhetoric. It could have been delivered in 2010 or even 2009; in fact, many of the president's promises and phrases were lifted, word for word, from earlier speeches.

There were no concrete plans for job creation, just vague talk about chasing the chimera of "green energy" with more Solyndras. He didn't explain why he vetoed the Keystone pipeline, killing 20,000 immediate, and as many as 200,000 near-future, jobs, and likely driving Canada into a partnership with China.

Unable to run on his record, he resorted to the politics of blame, division, and envy, the time-honored tactic of "Down with the rich!" that has appealed to the pitchfork brigade since the French Revolution.

Nick O'Dell, Phoenixville, nickodell16@yahoo.com

Adopting class-warfare rhetoric

How disappointing that The Inquirer is so quick to adopt President Obama's class-warfare tactic. On the same page as your editorial "Obama draws the battle lines" is Colin McNickle's piece that cites actual IRS-supplied data regarding effective tax rates. McNickle says, "Between 87 percent and 97 percent of American taxpayers have an effective tax rate that is lower than the 15 percent Mitt Romney says he falls under." You say, "Many middle-class taxpayers pay at a much higher rate" than Romney's. Really?

George C. Brady III, Blue Bell, gbrady@pdssoftware.com

School reform can't wait in Philly

The hiring of Thomas Knudsen is part of a long-term strategy to get the Philadelphia School District's financial house in order and to ensure children receive a quality education ("New chief isn't Superman," Tuesday).

This summer, the School District, the School Reform Commission (SRC), the state, and a team of volunteers from the business community began reviewing the district's operations. Throughout the fall, Mayor Nutter, state Education Secretary Ron Tomalis, and Gov. Corbett worked closely to recast the SRC so that they are now in a position to effectively move forward.

The decision to hire Knudsen showed decisive leadership and sends the right message that the status quo is no longer acceptable. The fiscal crisis is real. The announcement that a $61 million budget gap remains for this fiscal year after already painful cuts is devastating, and must be addressed quickly and decisively.

Knudsen's hiring also sends a strong message to district employees, parents, students, political leaders, and the business community that our kids can't wait and that real reform is under way.

Rob Wonderling, president and CEO, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce

Jill Michal, president, CEO, United Way of Southeastern Pa.

Better marketing for CareerLink

I am not surprised at the recent article on Philadelphia's CareerLink ("City job-seeker system underperforms," Jan. 19). More than two years ago, the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia held focus groups with various regional employers as part of its Green Economy Task Force initiative. The initiative was designed to increase access to green jobs in the region. Not a single employer in the focus group knew about CareerLink, understood its value, or had knowledge of this public workforce network as a means to finding employees. Let's hope that the city does as great a job of marketing to employers as it does with threatening the unemployed with loss of benefits if they don't check into the system.

Bernadine Hawes, Philadelphia