We need reform

MercuryNews.com eEdition / Subscriber ServicesMobile Mobile Alerts RSS Home News breaking newsobituariescrime and courtsbay area newsdata centerscienceearthquakespolitics / governmentcalifornianation / world Peninsula POWERED BY Latest Peninsula news Peninsula readers' letters: April 16 From Daily News Group readers Posted: 04/15/2011 05:29:34 PM PDTUpdated: 04/15/2011 11:52:36 PM PDT We need tax reform Dear Editor: As millions of Americans prepare to file their income taxes ahead of Monday's deadline, corporations and the wealthy use offshore banks and tax havens to avoid paying taxes and other governmental regulations. According to British journalist Nicholas Shaxson, "Tax havens have grown so fast in the era of globalization since the 1970s that they are now right at the heart of the global economy and are absolutely huge. There are anywhere between $10 and $20 trillion sitting offshore at the moment. Half of world trade is processed in one way or another through tax havens." They'll pay them anything, because they're the ones that rake in all those billions of dollars the U.S. Government has available to throw around and waste on arms, missiles, atom bombs and a huge paid military. No one is any longer a poor underpaid soldier. That is why the U.S. debt is now running around $14 trillion. We need a budget plan that calls for a responsible end to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bringing our troops and our tax dollars home; that calls for real tax reform, addressing the giveaways to billionaires, millionaires, and corporations; that calls for continued and substantial investment in job creation, education, and infrastructure; and that won't destroy or severely restrict critical social spending. Ted Rudow III, MA Palo Alto