Taxing superrich, school district surpluses, top earners

Who decides superrich 'fair share'?

It’s “rich” that the state teachers union president, Melinda Person, who earns in the neighborhood of $300,000 in salary and benefits — and who can expect to be paid several million dollars more in pension benefits in her lifetime — writes an essay “Superrich should pay fair share in taxes” [Opinion, Dec. 17] on the same day that Newsday’s lead story reports on the exorbitant salaries of state workers.

I have an idea: Why don’t we start with higher state taxes for Person and all other grossly overpaid state workers?

— Peter Dooley, Massapequa

While income disparity is indeed an issue and, most certainly, compensation in the tens of millions of dollars per year is unwarranted, will someone please define “fair share”? Fair to whom? Fair with respect to responsibility? Fair to the entrepreneur who risks his assets to create a business employing many? Fair to whom? It is a nonsensical concept.

In 1951, the top marginal tax rate for a married couple with income over $200,000 was 91%. And the country thrived as the “Greatest Generation.”

So yes, the issues need be addressed, but “fair share”?

— Richard M. Frauenglass, Huntington

I’d like to ask Melinda Person just who exactly gets to determine what someone’s “fair share” is regarding taxes. Does she get to decide? Maybe she should contribute some of her not-inconsiderable salary as president of the New York State United Teachers union to admittedly underpaid child care and nursing home staff. People like her are great at spending other people’s money.

— Joe Cesare, Copiague

I read Melinda Person’s essay with irony. As president of the state teachers’ union, she is well aware that retired teachers’ pensions are exempt from state tax, as is their Social Security.

I am a certified public accountant who has as clients many retired teachers married to another retired teacher. With two pensions and two Social Security checks, many couples have combined retirement income in excess of $200,000 and pay zero state income tax. Is that their “fair share”?

— Barry C. Levittan, Oceanside

Don’t the superrich (not me) achieve their salaries by hard work? In New York State, can’t the teachers’ union chip in and pay state income tax on retirement income? That would be quite a chunk of change.

— Charles Baker, Bay Shore

Melinda Person says taxing the rich seems to be the answer to our state’s monetary shortcomings. Fine, agreed. However, we currently spend lavishly on education yet rank near the bottom of industrialized nations. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the poster child for government waste. High housing costs may be resulting from the government’s migration policy.

Use our tax money efficiently, table ridiculous government policies, and then I’ll jump on the tax-the-rich bandwagon.

— Anthony Bordano, Middle Village

Schools’ reserves belong in LI pockets

When I first saw a headline about a think tank’s proposed solutions for schools’ “Too much money in reserve for 12 districts” [News, Dec. 16], I thought the article was referencing the proposal presented by our Center for Cost Effective Government in a letter to the editor last year. It called for state legislation empowering the state comptroller to claw back illegally excessive reserves held by school districts and have the surpluses returned to the taxpayers.

We even referenced the point that Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick had picked up on our suggestion and incorporated it in a bill pending in Albany.

But alas, the article was instead citing a proposal from the liberal Rockefeller Institute that amazingly suggested that the state actually should allow for a huge 10% surplus to be held by our schools.

All this will do is allow schools to hold onto even more of our hard-earned tax dollars.

So Long Island, would you rather have the liberal think tank suggestion of allowing even more of your tax dollars to be held by the schools or the fiscally conservative think tank’s approach to return that excess money back into your wallet?

— Steve Levy, Bayport

The writer, a former Suffolk County executive, is director of the Center for Cost Effective Government.

What people earn is their own business

What is the purpose of Newsday’s constant reporting on salaries of certain Long Islanders?

Those who work for the government — the police, schools, colleges and hospitals — seem to be the primary targets of “Only in Newsday” articles [“The highest-paid workers on the state payroll,” News, Dec. 17]. Why?

Whose business is it to know what these people earn? Regardless if it is public information, a person’s earnings are one’s own personal business, not Newsday’s or anyone else’s, for that matter.

— Joseph Mazzella, East Islip