Letters to the Editor: A new tax on wealthy Californians tells job creators in other states to stay out
To the editor: Columnist Nicholas Goldberg does not account for an important fact about the newest proposed tax increase on the wealthiest Californians: It would affect people outside the state.
My wife has been asking me for years to move to California, but all of my advisors are pushing hard against it. I looked at starting in California the kind of small but successful businesses that I have in the past, and the expense and regulatory burden was formidable. Add the tax burden, and it made a really difficult argument for your state.
Government does not create wealth — workers do, and all government can do is redistribute it. More efficient governments win. Continuous tax increases cannot succeed.
Jan Otto, Denver
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To the editor: I couldn't agree more with Goldberg. The amount of "lost" income for the state's highest earners would hardly be a blip on their balance sheets compared to the state's need for resources to combat poverty, homelessness and other inequities.
If not taxes, then what? Let the less fortunate roam the streets? What kind of society would we become if we are resistant to stepping up during the most difficult of times?
As a longtime L.A. Times subscriber, I see your real estate supplement that features dozens of listings of homes on the market for many millions of dollars, and for rental fees as high as $25,000 per month. Wealthy buyers swoop in to acquire these properties, while just miles away there can be found people living on the streets.
Rick Cohen, Avila Beach, Calif.
