Letters: Apr. 18, 1969

Taxing the Taxman

Sir: I am so outraged and appalled that my mind is spluttering! Your article "Why Tax Reform Is So Urgent and So Unlikely" [April 4] should be read and reread by every middle-income citizen of the U.S. All these years, while my husband and I and our two daughters have been trying to keep within our means so that we can pay our bills and taxes as good citizens, we have been taken.

Paying our taxes with the usual good-natured griping, we felt that as long as the people making much more than we did were paying their share, the tax burden could be borne with a feeling of having done our share, too. Now, we are hit between the eyes with the outrageous fact that the burden has not been shared.

It has always been accepted that the Government doesn't collect income taxes from mobsters; the indigent cannot be expected to pay, nor can welfare recipients. And now we have to swallow the bitter pill of knowing that the wealthy do not have to pay taxes either. I'm disgusted!

Where can I sign up to join the militant group of tax gripers? I'm ready!

(MRS.) HELEN S. TIETZ Wilkinsburg, Pa.

Sir: Perhaps the money given generously to charity (and providing a tax deduction) was used to set up a scholarship program for needy college students, or perhaps the gift went to fight cancer or heart disease.

Why shouldn't our tax structure reward the donor who does so much for his fellow man? What will it cost our great institutions of higher learning and our volunteer crusades against disease if these tax incentives are removed?

STAN HALL Canton, N.Y.

Sir: Let's be honest. A tax break is an exemption when it applies to us and a loophole when it applies to others.

MARTIN J. MILES Boulder, Colo.

Hail and Farewell

Sir: Your excellent cover article on General Eisenhower, the great soldier President [April 4], really touched me and carried my heart to Abilene. How accurately you report that he embodied serene America. Standing on his achievements, Ike may truly be regarded as one of America's, nay, the world's greatest generals. Adlai Stevenson once said: "I venture to suggest that patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." The same can be said of Ike, the hero who despised heroics.

ANURUP BANERJEE Calcutta, India

Sir: So it's a B plus for Eisenhower in the presidential final exams, is it? All he did was keep us from the brink, from confrontation, escalation and tragic military catastrophe. If that rates a B plus, Kennedy would be lucky to get an F minus.

Let the professors grade papers. History will report on Presidents soon enough.

THOMAS B. STREISSGUTH Los Angeles

Sir: Apparently we not only liked Ike; we loved him.

ELIZABETH A. SCHLADEMAN Pittsburgh

Sir: Your article reminded me of an anecdote related by my father, who was born near Abilene, Kans., in 1888. During the patriotic fervor following the blowing up of the battleship Maine in 1898, my father and his contemporaries frequently played soldier. They refused to let Ike Eisenhower play. He was too little.

JOSEPH E. GOODELL JR. Bryan, Ohio