Dear Everyone;
Joan Ryan in her column of July 29 spoke about all the things creating " The Gap Between The Two Americas " but missed the impact of taxes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/29/BAGJ57UJ3A1.DTL
I wrote a rebuttal stating the obvious main missing factor TAXES. The LTE is the third one down the list.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/01/EDGSM7V74G1.DTL
As usual The Chronicle did edit for content and space. My original LTE is below. And they left off Libertarian after my name.
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian
Dear Letters;
Joan Ryan's column does not address the issue of the impact of income and payroll taxes on the abilities to have a decent standard of living. Between state and federal income and payroll taxes the low wage earner can have some 25% of their income taken from them by theft through those taxes. Then top those taxes by sales taxes and various other user taxes. With the $8.70 an hour mentioned in the article each worker without those taxes could have $400 a month more of a living income.
The article also ignores the cost of continuing increases in government spending. And this spending can only come from increased taxes. Increased taxes means less money to hire and less money for decent wages. The article mentions getting decent wages from unionized factory jobs. Unionized wages works against the low income un-skilled worker in getting hired by setting an artificial floor instead of there being free market wages. Employers have to decide how many people they can afford to hire at minimum wages for un-skilled labor. When you have wage minimums you set a barrier against the hiring of un-skilled labor. It's an economic productivity factor against the cost of the labor.
The housing market costs are directly related to two factors. Rent control and no new rental housing being built in relation to the market demands for housing because of rent control and NIMBY's. Build the 20,000 some rental units needed without rent control and the building costs associated with union labor and you will see a major drop in rental rates because there will be free market competition for renters.
Speaking from personal experience getting a better job through attendance at college means attending college part-time while working part-time. Using the lack of Pell Grants and student loans to get a college education is an excuse. If you want a college education you will find a way to get to college.
Ron Getty - Libertarian