Paying More Taxes for Little in Return

Re “Davis Seeks Tax Hikes to Bridge Gap,” May 15: I find the explanation by Gov. Gray Davis for the budgetary crisis unacceptable. He says it is because the stock market is down and the money that came from the investors previously is gone. Come on, Gray, face the truth. You and the Legislature have pandered to every special- interest group imaginable, from prison guards to teachers to welfare moms. Your half-baked schemes to improve education have contributed nothing except to drain money from the state treasury with nothing to show for it. Prisons are worse now than ever except that the guards make more money. And welfare moms continue to contribute nothing to society except to breed more kids.

Now you want the working people to pay for your follies. No way. We have to pinch pennies as it is, and you want more blood. I wish we had a good write-in candidate for governor. The choice between Davis and Bill Simon is sickening, as is the thought of paying more taxes and receiving nothing back, as usual.

Michael Rives

Los Angeles

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It’s time for a change in Sacramento. We have a Democrat-controlled state Assembly. We have a Democrat-controlled state Senate. We have Davis as our governor. We have a $23.6-billion deficit. 1+1+1=-$23.6 billion.

Californians and their children deserve better. We need to restore the two-party system in California, and we need a new governor with a good sense of business and budgets--Simon!

Thomas Sherman

Del Mar

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I am so sick and tired of the government asking smokers to provide funding for all of California’s ills. With Gov. Davis’ proposal to increase the cigarette tax to fund public schools, he’s focusing on an unsympathetic, captive and easy target. I may have missed something in the newspaper recently, but the last time I checked, smoking was perfectly legal. If that’s the case, why are smokers constantly being punished?

The Rand Corp. recently published a study showing that, annually, more money is spent on health care due to the effects of obesity than smoking. Why not propose a candy tax?

Howard Kovensky

Los Angeles

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Davis is putting our money where his mouth is.

Michael Wright

Irvine