Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick delivers his State of the State address in the House Chambers at the Statehouse in Boston Jan. 16. Seated behind him are Senate president Therese Murray and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray.
The article '$400M needed for I-91 job," (The Republican, Feb. 14) doesn't mention that Gov. Deval L. Patrick's revenue reform proposal roughly doubles the personal exemption, protecting lower and moderate income earners.
About 50 percent of taxpayers would pay the same or less. Only those in extreme upper income brackets pay significantly more. Tax cuts in the past decade have substantially reduced our tax revenues with dramatic reductions in nearly every state program.
Another proposal, "an Act to Invest in Our Communities" filed by the Coalition for Our Communities gives the amount of local aid lost by each City/Town on their website, www.ourcommunities.org. The governor has saved billions by reducing inefficiency and waste, addressing long-term liabilities, state workforce reductions, controlling health care and energy costs, reforming Transportation and more.
It has been years since "Taxachusetts" describes our state. Per the U.S. Census, Massachusetts ranked 25th in Taxes in FY-2010 (www.massbudget.org - enter Massachusetts tax ranking in search).
The exact form revenue reform takes requires serious consideration, but we should all be able to agree that our state needs substantially more new revenue, and include in the discussion the importance of investing for long-term growth and our current and future well-being.
– CORINNE WINGARD, Agawam
What do the following massacres and several others have in common: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, Shopping Mall, Tucson Arizona, Aurora, Colorado, Newtown, Conn.?
They were all carried out by law-abiding citizens with legally purchased guns. Forget about the criminals. How do we protect ourselves from law-abiding citizens on their first rampage? Until the shooting starts, these perpetrators are law-abiding citizens and have every right to buy any weapon and any size magazine.
The perpetrator at the movie theater in Aurora was a Ph.D. student who bought his weapons legally through the mail. Was the Second Amendment intended to guarantee each citizen the right to one massacre with any weapons and magazines of his choice?
That's how the NRA interprets it.
What can we do to protect ourselves from law-abiding citizens on a first massacre? We can lessen the carnage by limiting the weapons and magazines available to "law-abiding" citizens. We let this ban lapse in 2004 and it needs to be reinstated. We should also promote background checks for all gun sales including psychological profiling. Liability insurance would be a good move if it didn't pay damages when guns were poorly secured. This would encourage gun owners to both lock up and get rid of their guns. Fewer guns on the loose would mean fewer shootings.
The NRA says "No!" to all the above. The NRA solution is more guns. We have to stop listening to them no matter how much money they have. We have to realize that we are at cross purposes from the NRA. They want sales and profits because they are funded by the gun industry. We want a civilized society where people can go out, socialize and trust that the streets are safe.
– MALITA BROWN, Wilbraham
Kudos to The Republican for their article covering Sen. Elizabeth's Warren's visit to Westover Air Force Base this past Sunday; for the region and for this country that base needs to continue. With regards to the federal workers pay freeze that was voted by the House of Representatives to continue for the third year in a row, the senator misses the mark.
Sen. Warren claims this is wrong and that it only "punishes the families" of the members who work for the federal government. Once again she blames the Republicans.
Welcome to the real world Sen. Warren; the private sector for the last five years has frozen many employees' wages along with massive layoffs. It's call "fiscal responsibility," something the federal government does not understand.
When was the last time one read a newspaper article stating a massive federal employee layoff?
– DAVID V. BRENNAN, West Springfield