Domenici and Tax Cut

* Re “Senator Won’t Sugarcoat His Advice to Bush,” March 14:

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.): Let me not sugarcoat my comments and advice to you. Americans are tired and weary of fronting the bucks for politicians’ pet projects. We are not totally stupid; we understand that the largest taxpayers are those who get the largest break . . . makes sense to us. Reduce your pet projects and let us waste our own money.

We are sick of paying 40% to 60%, and sometimes more, of our hard-earned dollars in taxes. If that money was spent on things that benefit most of the American people, that rate of taxes might be justified. However, that is not the case at all. We continue to pay for bloated bureaucratic entities whose jobs are to justify and keep their jobs and share the country’s wealth with their cronies for their personal projects. The rip-off that the Clintons did to this country is a magnification of what goes on every day. Shame on all of the politicians who are not working for all of the American people. Another tea party is on the horizon.

ROSALYN A. FRANKS

Anaheim

* President Bush has said, “We need to get that money out of Washington and into the pockets of the American people, and we need to do this as soon as possible.”

I vehemently disagree. I’m now retired, and if I had followed Bush’s economics I would have 1) either spent everything I made because it’s good for the economy or 2) given my money to the rich folks because they obviously will use it better than I ever could.

What we need to do is invest in Social Security and Medicare and pay down the debt before an economic downturn sends us back into the government debt of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. A small tax cut that would benefit the poverty-level and middle-income taxpayer might be justifiable but certainly not a bill that would tithe a huge amount to the rich for the next 10 years. Or is this “faith-based” economics?

JUDITH A. LEWIS

Huntington Beach

* In 1981, the Republicans told us their tax cut would result in surpluses as far as the eye could see. They were wrong. In 1993, all Republican senators voted against President Clinton’s economic initiatives, claiming they would cause deficits and a recession. Boy, were they wrong! Now, they’re claiming once again that a 1981-style tax cut is just what the country needs. Sign me “American sucker.”

DOUG HALL

Culver City