Richard Rudy: Stam’s ‘1 percent’ view

Regarding the April 29 letter “The sales-tax fog”: I feel compelled to respond to state Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam’s condescending remark that letter-writers “have all forgotten ... sales tax reductions.” He compounded this by saying “apparently they don’t buy anything.”

I respectfully point out to Stam that, thanks to his legislative body, new sales taxes were imposed on entertainment admission charges, service contracts, gas and electric bills, college meal plans and a farmer’s new mule. Then there are the sales taxes that were roughly doubled on modular and manufactured housing units and even day-old bread.

Yes, sales tax breaks were awarded. But the beneficiaries were primarily special interest groups (think auto racing and airlines) and buyers of private jets and yachts. Using Stam’s logic, if I’m in the same room with Bill Gates, we have an average net worth of $40 billion.

He needs to look at who was most affected by Republican-driven income redistribution. We of the 99 percent saw our tax burdens increased on basics to subsidize luxuries for the 1 percent.

This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Richard Rudy: Stam’s ‘1 percent’ view."