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Regarding the column about increasing taxes on the rich (“High-income earners pay much more than their fair share,” Star-Advertiser, Insight, April 1), the conservative Heritage Foundation economist who opposes the idea sounds like he plagiarized an Economics 101 textbook. He ignores specific criticisms by the director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, particularly corporate welfare, forcing the rest of us to pay more taxes. He doesn’t mention that the national debt increased after three big tax cuts for the rich under Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump. He also ignores the fact that businesses use COVID-caused inflation as a justification to not reduce consumer prices.
For example, General Mills paid a $300 million dividend to shareholders, bought back $150 million in stock to enrich executives and shareholders, pays its CEO $160 million, and made $2.1 billion in profit last year all while raising cereal prices by 20% due to inflation. Pilau!
Thomas Brandt
Downtown Honolulu
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