Like Ike, tax the rich

By a wide margin, Americans feel that Bush-era tax cuts for the super wealthy should be terminated. These unnecessary tax cuts for the ultra-rich are political corruption plain and simple; favors for a small but powerful demographic that trades millions in campaign donations for tax cuts and loopholes.

Back in President Dwight Eisenhower’s day, following World War II, the super-rich paid a 90 percent top tax rate. He didn’t get run out of office, and nobody accused him of being a socialist. We built the interstate highway system, our universities thrived, technological development surged, and business boomed, bringing prosperity to millions of middle-class working Americans. And the unemployment rate was way lower than it is now.

Let’s raise taxes on the very rich beyond President Bill Clinton’s 39.6 percent top rate. Scare talk about a “fiscal cliff” notwithstanding, let’s cut the military pork, too. Do this, and we can pay off our debts, provide health care and quality education for all, and develop real alternatives to oil and coal.

Idaho’s two senators and two congressmen should say where they stand on continuing tax cuts for the rich. How do their positions serve the U.S. economy and the people of Idaho?

Chris Norden

Moscow