Tax increase small compared to its benefits

If your income is below $200,000 (or $250,000 filing jointly), you can stop reading this letter. The proposed federal tax increases won't apply to you.

They will apply to me. I'm not thrilled that the previous four presidents racked up $10 trillion in national debt. If all that hadn't happened, we might not have to raise taxes now. But it did, and the costs and debts are undeniable - and ours.

A responsible, successful modern society needs taxes to pay for things like roads and schools and infrastructure. It needs to pay interest on its debt, and that takes taxes, too.

The proposed tax increase will add nine-tenths of 1 percent to the wages of folks now in the top federal tax bracket, putting it from 35 percent to 35.9 percent. It will add 3.8 percent to the tax rates on my dividends and capital gains, putting it from 15 percent to

18.8 percent.

I can live with that. I've done very well by living in the United States. I feel it is patriotic to pay the taxes needed to support the country that makes it all possible.

Rick Strandrel

Cedar Rapids