Tax Credits

Mel Levine’s column (“Planting the Seeds of Our Renewal”, Op-Ed Page, Jan. 29) really hit my buttons!

American investors, business owners and executives are always decrying government interference in the “free market”--until they have a chance to get richer. And now, with the “managed” economies of the communist world collapsing, these free-market advocates want more government control in the form of more tax credits.

I can understand the business world’s desire to be competitive and strong. But I firmly believe that the money for research and development and plant upgrades is already there. All that these businesses need to do is stop wasting their profits on inflated dividends, excessive executive compensation and needless takeover debt. The alternative, government tax credits, only serves to shift more of the cost of government to those who can’t afford to pay: the middle- and lower-income classes.

If the American business community really believes in free-market capitalism, then let’s see businessmen put their money where their mouths are, and stop all this whining for government protection from competition.

BRYAN D. LE BLANC

Los Angeles