The truth about income taxes

Re “Bold tax reform would rely less on the top 1%,” Column, June 1

Kudos to George Skelton for helping debunk the myth that the rich do not pay their fair share of income taxes in California. The statistics he provides show that the opposite is in fact the case.

State Controller Betty Yee uses the term “tax expenditures” to describe tax breaks that cost the treasury money. She’s kidding, right? A tax expenditure is what transpires when the state (i.e., Yee, Gov. Jerry Brown and others) continues to escalate tax rates on taxpayers at near confiscatory levels.

No wonder our once Golden State is in dire fiscal straits, with leaders espousing such nonsensical ideas.

Peter S. Griffith

Arcadia