Revolt of the Plebes

The Star Tribune has never met a tax dollar it didn't like:

In its July 27 editorial on the estate tax ("Estate tax / A levy worth keeping"), the Star Tribune states, "If the Senate wants Washington to forgo billions of dollars in estate tax revenue, it must either raise taxes on the other 99 percent of Americans or shift an even higher debt load onto the next generation of taxpayers."I don't find it at all surprising that the Star Tribune fails to see a third option: Spend less money.

F. Michael Miller, Buffalo, MN.

The Star Tribune should stick to reporting news instead of trying to promote unjustified taxation. The perspective is that the estate tax, however unfair, is OK because it falls on only about 1 percent of the populace. That does not make it right. With that absurd reasoning we might as well justify mistreating motorcyclists because there are so few of them. Reasons like loss of revenue and budget deficits, however noble, are shallow excuses for imposing a death tax on a legacy that was acquired through hard work and paid for all along the way with after-tax dollars. Where is the logic or fairness in punishing one who has saved too much and blown too little?

Jim Hazzard, Minnetonka, MN.

The greatest threat this nation faces going forward is governments' insatiable appetite for our tax money. They need more every year to fund all the things they keep inventing, and there is no mechanism to keep it in check. Show me a nation or state that has ever taxed its way into prosperity.