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Letters to the Editor - Economy
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Raise Minimum Wage
Sept 7th, 2006
Once again, Mark Kirk and his Republican buddies did something to make the rich
richer and the poor poorer. Voting to keep the estate tax does virtually
nothing for those of us NOT in the top 3 percent of the wealthy. However, while
our Congress rejects the motion to increase the minimum wage it has been proven
(in other countries) that by raising the minimum wage the overall standard of
living (poverty line) has gone up and as a result there are fewer people on
welfare. Will the leaders of this country in the Republican dominated
administration ever learn from the experiences of other countries about how to
improve the quality of life of its citizens? Perhaps they just don't care!
David Campbell Northfield
Facts about estate tax
Winnetka Talk
August 17, 2006
The Republican Party, including Congressman Mark Kirk, has been a strong advocate for the elimination of the estate tax. It has been labeled this tax "the death tax," and has deceived the American public into thinking that the Grim Reaper awaits their heirs regardless of the size of their estate. Republicans have consistently harped on the adverse effect of the tax on small farmers and small businesses. Well, here are the facts as developed by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office:
The number of taxable estates has dropped from 52,000 in 2000 to 12,600 in 2006. In 2009, with the increase in exemptions to $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for a married couple, the number drops to 7,100.
In 2006, 5 out of every 1,000 estates will be taxed. In 2009, the estimate is 3 out of every 1,000.
Just 123 farms and 135 small businesses will be taxed in 2006. In 2009, the estimated number of farms drops to 65 and for small businesses to 94.
Since there will be more than ample assets in the estate to pay the tax, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that very few small farms and businesses will need to be liquidated.
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the government would lose more that $1 billion in revenue over a 10-year period should the estate tax be lost with a commensurate increase in the deficit.
Much of the asset value in most estates has never been taxed as the value of initial investments in stocks and real estate has increased. In addition, many estates also include non-taxed IRAs and other deferred tax components. (Note that this is my comment not that of the Congressional Office.) Mark Kirk and his fellow Republicans unabashedly continue to pander to their fat cat contributors and support the Paris Hilton tax break to the detriment of you and me.
Dr. Kent Wilson
Glenview
Deficit soaring
August 10, 2006
Winnetka Talk
This week, Congressman Mark Kirk voted for the second time in three months to reduce the estate tax for the wealthiest 8,000 families in the country. The Center for Budget an Policy Priorities estimates the loss of revenue and consequential increase in the deficit will be more than $750 billion over the next ten years.
The estate tax reduction was added on to a bill to increase the hourly minimum wage. For the past ten years, the Republican leadership has refused to bring to a vote stand-alone legislation to increase the minimum wage, knowing that the Republican controlled House would reject it. By combining the two disparate issues, the House leadership, of which Mark Kirk is the deputy whip, was able to convince fellow Republicans to vote in favor of this bill. This with the full knowledge that the bill would not come up for a vote in the Senate which, incidentally, it did not.
The primary objective of this cynical political ploy was to enable Republicans who are against the minimum wage to go back to their constituencies and boast that they voted in favor of legislation to increase the minimum wage while, at the same time boxing in Democrats who voted against it because of the addition of the estate tax reduction provisions.
Is this the kind of ethical values we in the Tenth Congressional District want in our Congressman?
Stuart Kronish
Highland Park
Campaign flyer misleading
August 10, 2006
Winnetka Talk
On Friday at home, I received Congressman Kirk's campaign literature. It is misleading. Kirk is trying to present one image in our District while voting for a different, far more right wing agenda in Washington, D.C.
What struck me as most inaccurate is the campaign flyer's statement that on the issues Kirk is for a balanced budget. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In 2000, the federal budget was in surplus. But then Kirk was elected, together with President Bush and a Republican majority in the House and eventually in the Senate. Since 2000, with Kirk's Republican party in full control of the entire budgetary process and with Kirk now serving as the Republican's Assistant Majority Whip, Kirk has supported every single Republican deficit spending budget, budgets that have thrown our country into a huge deficit and required raising the federal debt limit several times and trillions of dollars.
Kirk was also one of the biggest cheerleaders for the horrible fiasco in Iraq, a war that has damaged our country's security and cost almost $300 billion, an amount that is not even included in the Republican deficit budgets.
And rather than be responsible for the huge increase in federal spending and the war in Iraq, rather than be fiscally accountable for these actions, Kirk has joined right wing Republicans in supporting every single major Republican tax cut. Indeed, Kirk is on record as being in favor of yet another multibillion dollar tax cut: the elimination of the estate tax, resulting in billions more for the 8,000 richest American families and further national debt for the rest of us.
In short, Kirk's votes on fiscal matters have been irresponsible. And it is important that the press, including the Pioneer Press, review in detail and report on the claims made by politicians versus such politicians’ actual voting records.
In contrast to Kirk's record, Dan Seals is running for Congress in the 10th District with a promise of accountability and responsibility. He understands that there are no free lunches and that we must have fiscal restraint on the spending side and on tax cuts. I encourage readers to look for information on Dan Seals. He is a good candidate who will help restore fiscal sanity to Washington. He deserves our support.
Thomas McMenamin
Highland Park
Raise minimum wage
Pioneer Press
July 12, 2006
Once again, Mark Kirk and his Republican buddies did something to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Voting to keep the estate tax does virtually nothing for those of us NOT in the top 3 percent of the wealthy. However, while our Congress rejects the motion to increase the minimum wage it has been proven (in other countries) that by raising the minimum wage the overall standard of living (poverty line) has gone up and as a result there are fewer people on welfare. Will the leaders of this country in the Republican dominated administration ever learn from the experiences of other countries about how to improve the quality of life of its citizens? Perhaps they just don't care!
Dave Campbell
Northfield
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