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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Matter of Opinion

Letter: Tax cuts, tax increases, rate cuts, rate increases

Contrary to Gary Crooks' assertion ("Deal or no deal?" April 19), the Bush administration has not reduced taxes. In 2003, the federal government took $1.78 trillion of our money in various taxes. In 2007 it took $2.54 trillion. Estimate for 2008 is $2.66 trillion. Taxes have been and are continuing to go up. Congress decreased income tax rates a few years ago, but economists acknowledge we are still on the far side of the Laffer curve. Cutting rates more would result in even larger tax collections. If Mr. Crooks wants the government to take more money, he should be advocating larger rate reductions, or at least supporting the extensions of the current rates. Calling an increase from $1.78 trillion to $2.54 trillion a cut just confuses the issue. -- David Wordinger, Medical Lake

Numbers can be deceiving, manipulated in many ways. Have you found reliable sources of numbers on which you base your opinions, or do you just ignore the slinging of dollar signs and percentages between candidates and letter writers?



A Matter of Opinion is really a matter of three opinions – those held by the people responsible for the opinion pages of The Spokesman-Review. Check in regularly to find out what they’re up to, what they think and where they differ and to joust with them if you want.