Withholding taxes are deducted from our paychecks each week. The required tax return is filed each year. Then, if warranted, we get a tax refund. Over the years, this provides a chunk of change for working poor people to purchase that used car that allows them to get to work or get needed items, appliances, etc.

Moving up in income, we then get to file a tax return with deductions, claiming mortgage interest on our homes. If we are very lucky, we get to reach an income level to pay all of our taxes and still have enough money to live on.

This is the part that is disappearing. No more living-wage jobs for skilled workers. Jobs are either outsourced or hours are cut and no benefits provided. Therefore, more people are in need of health care assistance and food stamps than ever.

Government programs are needed now more than ever. When young, I knew that if I lost my job, there would be food stamps and retraining. If my children needed health care, they would get the needed care. People of my generation and my children grew up on public TV and radio, and a great free and appropriate education.

Nowhere in the rhetoric is there a discussion regarding quality of life. Ours could be quite full, things were available. Parents today have to make choices between food and housing. What can wait for health care, and what can’t?

Children are not guaranteed health care when they need it. Doctors actually have Medicaid patient quotas, and finding a doctor who will care for a child on state aid can be very hard. My grandchildren’s lives are not as full, and I fear for the next generation.

Let’s stop referring to “them” and “us,” and start working again for quality of life for all people.

Debbie Blethen

Yarmouth

 

As a retired minister, I feel compelled to raise the moral implications of government tax and spending policies.

Budgets are more than numbers, they represent choices. And the choices made by the proposed Paul Ryan budget – as well as the choices we face at the end of the year under existing tax and spending legislation – couldn’t be more stark or important.

The budget authored by Mitt Romney’s chosen running mate would dismantle and diminish programs on which working families rely for prosperity and survival, including Medicaid, student loans and food stamps. At the same time, he would shower ever-greater tax breaks on the wealthiest Americans.

Even if this plan made economic sense (it doesn’t), there is no moral or ethical way to defend it. I have to assume some politicians don’t consider the real-life effects of their ideology.

Volunteering as I do with a meal program for those dealing with food scarcity in the Portland area, I can assure you that in the face of swelling demand for basic nutrition, one’s concern does not naturally turn to how to pass another tax cut for billionaires.

Thankfully, the Ryan plan is still only a dark vision. But at the end of this year, budgets will be cut and taxes on everyone – including the struggling middle class – will go up unless Congress reaches a budget compromise.

One simple moral choice in such a budget bargain would be to let Bush-era tax cuts for the top 2 percent of taxpayers — those making over a quarter million dollars a year – to expire. With the added money we could lower the deficit and strengthen the social safety net.

I urge Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to be leaders in forging a budget deal that includes higher revenues from those best able to contribute to our society.

H. Donald Mairs

Portland

 

Summers has shown he can transcend party lines

I believe that one of the largest problems with our government is the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., right now. We need a leader who has experience working with both sides of the aisle to represent the state of Maine in the U.S. Senate.

Charlie Summers has that experience. Not only was Charlie the first Republican ever elected to represent Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, Saco and Dayton in the Maine Senate, but he served at a time when the Democrats held the majority by a wide margin.

Regardless, Charlie Summers was able to transcend party lines and put forth the effort required to work with Maine Democrats to get things done to improve the state for all Mainers.

This is the kind of leadership we need in Washington. Someone to start making decisions based on what is right for the American people, and not based solely on what their party wants them to do. Charlie Summers has done this in Maine, and I believe he could do it in Washington.

Jim Means

Gorham

King’s independence would add to balanced approach

Both Democrats and Republicans have beliefs that are positive and negative, in my opinion.

If Republicans had their way, we would have much less economic support for those who need it, like the elderly and the working poor. If the Democrats were in power, it might be far too easy to access welfare.

Both have their strong and weak points. We need both incentive to work and be productive as well as support for those unable to care for themselves. As long as any system exists, there will be those who will attempt to abuse it.

We need a sense of balance in this equation in these rapidly changing times. Although we need both Democrats and Republicans, we also need an independent.

We need someone who sees both sides of the equation, someone who has no vested interest in protecting party lines. We need Angus King to help achieve this, and restore the balance we seem to have lost.

Daniel E. Gagne

Brunswick

 

Doctor in Medicare case a committed caregiver

I was saddened to hear about the recent allegations against Dr. Peter File (“Freeport doctor to pay $321,000 for false Medicare billings,” Oct. 2).

As a colleague, referring provider and former patient, I can tell you that Dr. File has helped countless patients find relief from complex medical conditions when other treatment modalities have failed. Dr. File has the knowledge, intuition and compassion of a true caregiver.

One can only speculate that his was perhaps a misinterpretation of the complex, confusing and often frustrating regulations put forth by federal health programs.

I have not lost faith in his ability as a caregiver, and I hope other colleagues and patients adopt the same sentiment.

Jennifer Daigle

self-employed nurse practitioner

Portland