Catastrophic Tax

In his recent statement to the press (“Catastrophic Care Close to Repeal,” Part I, Sept. 20), House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) admits that the House of Representatives is close now to voting for repeal of that infamous piece of tax legislation known as the Catastrophic Medicare surtax.

The angry protests, the thousands of letters, messages, and telephone calls which members of Congress have received from irate Americans when they discovered that Congress had dictatorially imposed a surtax of as much as $800 on their federal income tax reports ($800 in 1989, increasing to $1,050 in 1993), has forced the members of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to reconsider the entire Catastrophic Medicare law. Gephardt’s admission proves, therefore, that the time has come for our Congress to demonstrate the political courage and the moral integrity to repeal this burdensome tax, abolish the catastrophic legislation, and take positive action to provide basic health insurance to the more than 37 million Americans who possess no health protection, and get off the backs of the old folks!

DARYL DAYTON

Claremont