Gov. Davis’ Plan

* Re “Davis Seeks State Tax Exemption for Teachers,” May 15: Gov. Gray Davis has really gone off the deep end. What a Pandora’s box he would open with his proposal to exempt California teachers from paying state income tax. Can’t you just see all those public service employees getting in line?

No one group should be exempt from paying state income tax, and any surplus should be returned to all the taxpayers.

RUSS and MARION COMPTON

San Gabriel

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The governor’s proposal to exempt our teachers from state income tax is a tacit admission that we are not paying our school teachers enough. It will be far better for us to grant our teachers, the beacon for our future generations, an appropriate pay increase instead of tinkering with our already complicated tax code. Teachers are not second-class citizens who require our charity. They are deserving of our support and a compensation commensurate with their responsibilities.

JOHN T. CHIU

Newport Beach

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Not to be ungracious, but to Davis’ plan to exempt us teachers from paying state income tax, I must politely say no, thank you. I agree with the widely held criticism that it would cause other deserving public service workers to seek the same exemption, thus severely altering the state’s tax base. I also would feel bad getting a free ride while my noncredentialed school colleagues, who make even less money to begin with, continued to pay their share of the freight.

But most of all, I don’t wish to be excluded from the public discussion of any fiscal measures that have an impact on education, such as bond issues or state budgets, because I’m tax-exempt. I’m afraid the governor’s idea will divide the labor movement and silence the most eloquent and knowledgable voices we have for progress in education.

RICHARD LAVIN

Huntington Park High School