Readers write for Dec. 23, 2010

Never before, in my 20 years of reading the Star Tribune, has a commentary more perfectly captured the national condition than J. Brian Atwood's "Minnesota Voices" Dec. 21 column "Will we tap our best thinkers, or will fear and suspicion prevail?"

All thinking, caring Americans should read it and take whatever positive action that they can. Can the disciples organize a rational voice in time?

Even at 79, I'm hopeful.

TOM BRUMM, MINNEAPOLIS

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One of the numerous laments in Atwood's commentary is that "we have chosen to continue tax cuts to people making millions." He goes on to observe that those who oppose these tax cuts will likely be "accused of conducting class warfare."

Not surprisingly, Atwood avoids an actual presentation of the facts. The following was gleaned from the IRS's Publication 1304, Individual Income Tax Returns 2008:

•The top 0.6 percent of filers -- those with adjusted gross income of $500,000 or more -- paid one-third of total income tax in 2008 (33.2 percent, to be specific).

•The top 3.1 percent of filers (adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more) paid more than half of all income taxes (52 percent).

•Folks with adjusted gross incomes of $50,000 or less -- nearly two-thirds of Americans who filed a return in 2008 -- contributed just 7.6 percent of all income taxes paid.

The highest-earning Americans do account for a significant portion of all income in this country. That in and of itself should be of no particular concern to anyone. Whether they are paying their so-called "fair share" seems to be the issue for Atwood and most liberals who incessantly whine about this supposed malady.

Three percent of filers paying more than half of all income taxes in America. Tens of millions of income earners paying nothing (or worse, getting refundable credits). If opposition to the retention of the existing marginal tax rates for all Americans isn't class warfare, what exactly is it?

If more people knew the realities of who does -- and does not -- contribute income taxes to Uncle Sam, I suspect much of the heated rhetoric would simply go away.

Well, one can hope.

BROOKS D. MYHRAN, GREENWOOD

Conservatives, including a Dec. 20 letter writer, keep bringing up the same mundane quote often attributed to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: "The problem with socialism is that soon you run out of other people's money" to tax.

However, if you keep cutting government programs (usually the other option), you run out of things to cut.

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Arizona has roughly 6.5 million people and an annual state budget of $8.5 billion, or $1,300 per person.

Minnesota has about 5.5 million residents and an annual budget of $14.5 billion, or $2,600 per resident.

Why are we talking about raising more revenue? Could anything be learned by studying other state budgets? Is it possible that we could learn to run our state more efficiently?

DOUG CLEMENS, BLOOMINGTON

We hear often from people on the right that mass transit should pay for itself and not be subsidized by government with money that, as it turns out, the government must borrow. Rather than argue that driving our cars is a heavily subsidized activity, I want to focus on clearing our streets and highways of snow in another creative way.

Taking a strongly libertarian track here, I propose that government entities stop the plowing. Delete it from your duties -- smaller government is better anyway. Instead, each resident will take responsibility for clearing and maintaining the street in front of their property. In this way, we can also eliminate road repair from the list of government responsibilities. Now, some might say that it puts too big a burden on homeowners to add street repair and plowing to their already busy lives.

Hence, this caveat: Since this program will basically privatize roads, each person or group has the right to collect a toll for the use of the roads in front of their property. The tolls would of course be market-driven, without the need for government regulation. The down side is for drivers. They would have to pay a toll for every house they pass, and market-driven driving would get a bit expensive.

Solution? Use your tax cut windfall to pay for tolls or, better yet, take mass transit. We are told there a lot of empty seats on the buses and trains anyway.

ANTHONY DESNICK, MINNEAPOLIS

I'm tired of listening to all this whining about running out of money to handle snow removal.

Setting budgets artificially low to satisfy "no new taxes" mantras and then expecting real life to fall in line isn't responsible governing.

BECKY CARPENTER, MINNEAPOLIS

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Hey, Mother Nature,

Sincerely,

Minnesota