Re, articles in Thursday’s ADN from Larry Persily and Mia Costello: They are right on, but if I could just add to the need for the income tax.
I have been living in our great state for near 70 years, since November 1949. To help in our budget crisis, we absolutely need the income tax.
Many of our politicians say, “Why should we give out a dividend, then tax it back.” They are two different situations.
The dividend was created to allow every man, woman and child to share in our excess oil revenue from the oil we all own. It should go up in high oil prices, and down during the bad times, as we have recently experienced.
But the income tax would generate revenue from the high-income people; the dividend is specifically exempted, plus a generous minimum exemption for everyone. Then the tax rate starts at a low level, increasing as the income level rises.
An additional benefit is to generate revenue from the west coast fishermen who make a lot of money during the summer fishing season and the Texas oil workers who make a lot of money during the winter. So far, they can take all this money back home with them, but the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that any money earned in a state with income tax will have to pay that tax.
From what I am hearing, we would all be willing to “step up to the plate,” and help to pay a share of providing for the government services we all want and need.
— Orin Seybert, Anchorage
