Letters: Romney's 15% isn't good enough
Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, left, Newt Gingrich, right, Rick Santorum (hidden) and Ron Paul, center, shake hands at the end of the presidential debate at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
Regarding "Romney symbolizes tax inequities" [Editorial, Jan. 19], why is anyone surprised that Mitt Romney paid only 15 percent federal income tax? This is what Warren Buffett has been talking about all along.
The highest-earning 1 percent don't earn a paycheck from Walmart every two weeks; most of their income comes from investments that are taxed at 15 percent. The same goes for hedge fund managers, thanks to the fantasy world of "carried interest" that converts labor earnings into investment income.
The only ones who can change this abominable system are members of Congress. Good luck with that.
Michael Grant, Centereach
Is anyone except the large percentage of uninformed working-class voters really surprised that Mitt Romney pays a 15 percent income tax rate? A large percentage of wealthy Americans, as well as many of the 405 wealthy members of Congress pay the same, while the majority of the working class pays up to almost double that.
These wealthy people make the laws, and made their tax rates lower than ours.
It is time for the working class to find and field its own candidates to take Congress out of the hands of those protecting the upper-income bracket at the expense of the working class and poor.
William Ryan, Inwood
