Hatred of Trump is hurting our nation
As we await the final tax cut bill, I wonder if Sen. Bob Casey will continue to support the state of New York versus the Pennsylvanianswho put him in office. It is sad when representatives of our state subvert themselves to a political party leader over the well-being of their constituents.
Parties are dividing our republic as never before, and the overt hate against the president of the United States has not been so evident since Abraham Lincoln. Wouldn’t it be something to see our congressional representatives vote on policy merits versustheir party leaders?
That’s what many blue state voters did last November. Those blue staters wanted a change from business as usual and deserve a tax break, as do all Pennsylvanians.
It would be great if the congressional vote for tax cuts and the impending budget dilemma had an abundance of “yea” blue and red votes together. Now that would be evidence of a true republic that could uplift the spirit of all Americans. But when blinding hate rules within a nation, I am skeptical that much goodwill emerge for its citizens. TERRENCE FEITKNECHT
Tarentum and done slowly and in bright sunlight. The current tax plans are just giveaways for the rich paid for by increasing taxes on the rest and adding to the national debt. JOHN MIER Leetsdale
The current tax bill is unacceptable as it stands. In particular, the proposal would drastically increase the taxes for graduate students, and since most STEM grad students are paid under government grants, the end result will be a massive reduction in STEM research funding in the U.S.
Reducing STEM funding is a terrible idea, particularly as U.S. science is under increasing pressure from programs abroad. This will weaken our economy in the long term and cause a great deal of stress and difficulty to research universities in the short term. I ask that Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey vote against this bill. WILLIAM COHEN
Point Breeze
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lower their cost of education by eliminating the bloated instruction and administration costs. The universities could also use their vast endowments for lowering tuition costs instead of just adding to the physical “plant,” which serves no purpose other than to enhance the egos of the administration.
The sin of omission of facts is also a hallmark of too many of our educators. Mr. Trachtenberg states that the proposed bills strip away most of the deductions that the middle class has depended on for a generation. The House bill doubles the current standard deduction, which would more than cover the vast majority of Americans’ outlays for state and local taxes. Additionally, the House bill allows a mortgage interest deduction on mortgages up to $500,000, and the proposed Senate bill, for mortgages up to $1 million.
I have had my fill of the nonsense spewed by many in academia claiming the proposed tax bills take money from the middle class and redistribute it to the top 1 percent. Currently the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay about 24 percent and the top 20 percent pay about 53 percent of all federal taxes collected. Additionally the top 50 percent of all taxpayers currently pay 84 percent of all federal taxes. It follows then that the bottom 50 percent of all federal taxpayers pay virtually nothing toward the fiscal maintenance of our country. GILBERT DADOWSKI
Moon