Keep the state 'millionaire's tax'

It's about the revenue

Your editorial "Don't renew millionaire tax" [March 14] endorses the position of conservatives that we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

You support giving millionaires what amounts to a tax cut to force the state to make deep cuts in education and Medicare, all of which the public opposes by large margins. It will probably result in layoffs at all levels of government, and a subsequent reduction in vital services.

Less spending will not necessarily bring education reform, as you imply. It's likely to result in inferior schools and serve as a deterrent to attracting the best and brightest to the profession. Private business does not attract talent by offering austerity. Neither will public service.

Meanwhile, the well-to-do, who already benefited greatly from the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, are given even more and are not asked to sacrifice anything. New York has one of the highest income inequalities of any state. Keep the millionaire's tax and reduce the severity of the budget cuts for the rest of us. That's fair.

Howard J. Goldstein, Hewlett