Tax the rich

August 17, 2011

Warren Buffett has repeatedly called for higher tax rates for the rich, recently reasserting this view in an opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times.

Tax cuts for the wealthy have been repeatedly justified as a means of creating jobs, but the evidence needed to support this assertion is lacking. These policies have been implemented under various administrations, and they have always contributed to significant deficits. The long-term consequences of these repeated deficits have been illustrated by the recent national debt dilemma and S&P's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.

Future generations will have to pay for our nation's $14.3 trillion debt and more money will go towards paying interest on this debt as a result of the credit downgrade. Hopefully congress will listen to Buffett and the other proponents of repealing these tax cuts before America's citizens are saddled with an even greater burden.

-- Charles L. Bovaird, Worcester, Mass.