Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, April 25, 2015

Eliminating estate tax does little

to fix real budget woes

Taxation of any kind seems impossible to defend these days, but the House's vote to repeal the estate tax shows how beholden it is to the few at the expense of the many and the nation, as the elimination of this tax creates a $20 billion hole in the budget. Lawmakers are pouring gas on our budgetary fire by eliminating this tax.

If you were wondering, an individual must have an estate valued in excess of $5.4 million to be taxed, which means less than 0.2 percent of all estates. It should surprise nobody that the wealthy, who have the most access to Congress, have gained concessions with the estate tax over the years. As an example, in 2000, 10 times as many estates had to pay this tax, as the threshold was just $675,000 then.

It is time Congress address our underlying budgetary challenges, which will require we all pay more and get less to fix. If lawmakers don't have the courage to tell constituents what must be done and act in a bipartisan manner to achieve it, we need to vote them out. The findings of the Simpson-Bowles commission is a great place to start, and it didn't recommend eliminating the estate tax.

Chris Tew

Anchorage

Bragaw project not needed

As our legislators are struggling to find a way to pass a budget, I would like to offer a suggestion. There is $35 million in the budget slated to build the Northern Access Road, also known as the Bragaw extension. This is a highly controversial road that all the community councils bordering it have opposed.

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Let's use that money instead to help fund education, the worthwhile WWAMI medical program at the University of Alaska, and Medicaid expansion. Money spent for those items will save far more lives than a negligible decrease in transport time to Providence. Remember we do have another hospital, Alaska Regional, with a good emergency room on the Bragaw side of town. Going to Alaska Regional from Eagle River would be even faster than to Providence with the new road. Let's not build a road we do not need.

Alice Knapp

Anchorage

Dispatch News missed rally

AFACT, or Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together, sponsored a rally for Medicaid expansion in Anchorage's Cuddy Park on April 16. Some 400 residents heard a clear description of the "health-care gap," and testimonies from victims of the situation. Why did ADN not cover that rally?

Kay Gajewski

Anchorage

Spend money on education

Majority leaders, spend responsibly in order to hold down future costs. Spend on education and Medicaid, not the Bragaw-Elmore Road extension. Underfunded public education translates into lower student performance and lower-paid careers. Lack of Medicaid for low-income workers translates into preventable disease, lost productivity, and crushing personal medical debt. In those instances, the Legislature can spend wisely now, and save future costs.

Rep. Paul Seaton has proposed fair ideas for education funding; and part of the funding can come from reallocating the $20 million for the Bragaw-to-Elmore Road connection across UAA campus. Be forewarned of future costs of that road: $20 million only buys a "starter" road (downsized to two lanes with few pedestrian crossings). The traffic congestion on the starter-road will quickly demand more funding. Legislators, spend responsibly to minimize future costs: a bit more on public education and health care, and not on the Bragaw-to-Elmore Road.

Nancy Pease

Anchorage

Mayor, read The Atlantic

If Mayor Sullivan is determined to get his ideas from popular magazines, he should choose a higher quality publication than the Alaska Airlines in-flight rag. The April issue of The Atlantic, in a story titled "The False Gospel of Alcoholics Anonymous," reports of a program in Finland that boasts a 78 percent success rate for a mere $2,500, using an opioid antagonist.

For the price of the extra airfare, who knows, patients might also pick up a second language.

Diane Pleninger

Anchorage

Senators’ plea defies belief

Now the GOP senators are sending out a plea for public understanding to the cuts they are proposing. Really? How can any of us support their proposal to make massive cuts to public education? This puts a huge burden on our children and their future while the GOP majority refuses to put a burden on large oil or themselves. While they are spending time in their glass building with glass elevators this summer and fall the rest of us should be working to vote them out of office.

Kathryn Cross

Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

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