Readers React: Giving more money to the government isn’t moral

To the editor: Michael Hiltzik’s characterization of professor Edward Kleinbard’s book as a “clear moral approach” to taxation is amusing and disingenuous. (“On fiscal policy, USC professor’s viewpoint is moral and farsighted,” Oct. 18)

Kleinbard’s premise is that greatly expanded government, which would result in its taking up an increasingly greater share of the gross domestic product, would reduce income inequality if that expansion is to build infrastructure. This is premised on the theory that the poor and middle class benefit more than the wealthy from such spending.

If politicians were angels, this might be true. But we have increasingly seen the ineptitude of government and the willingness of officials to waste billions and rewards their “friends” at the expense of the rest of this country’s inhabitants — a large part of which is the poor and middle class.

The idea that it is “moral” to spend any taxpayer’s money on these purposes is patently immoral.

Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica

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To the editor: Kleinbard offers a moral view on our tax system: make it “bigger,” not more progressive, then use the new revenue to rebuild our failing infrastructure and reboot the economy.

Interesting, yes, but “moral”? I suggest “conciliatory.”

Kleinbard is a financial Neville Chamberlain. He acknowledges top-level fury against restoring historical marginal tax rates and eschews the battle. In this he overlooks histories of repeated concessions that are demanded after an initial appeasement.

The top 1% is disinterested in, and in some cases rabidly against, using tax dollars in the way he proposes, so their continuing demands will strike at the core of Kleinbard’s argument. Don’t bet that new taxes, even “fairly” assessed, will be fairly redistributed.

Most of us bottom-dwellers do not want bigger taxation; we want more progressive taxation.

Curtis Selph, Lancaster

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