Letters to the editor
May 2,
2003
Close
tax code loopholes for big polluters
I was glad to see the
connection made between how our taxes are used and environmental problems
("Ease budget woes; close corporate charity tap," April 25).
The irony is that the
same people most likely to be hurt by budget cuts to state services are the
ones most likely to be hurt by the environmental devastation allowed by the tax
breaks to corporate polluters. Children and the elderly are those most likely
to suffer from the effects of our poor air quality and most likely to suffer
under state tax cuts to essential programs.
Working families whose
livelihoods depend on the health of our Bay and coastal areas already
experience the effects of climate change on their businesses and now may also
bear the effects of more expensive higher education and less child care
assistance.
Care for the well being
of our society means that we must come up with better budget solutions than
slots, and Jennifer Hicks and Mike Tidwell have provided a sensible solution.
Close the tax code loopholes for the big polluters.
The Rev. Laura
Collins, Takoma
Park
The writer is co-chair
of the Maryland Interfaith Climate Alliance, a statewide network of communities
of faith concerned about the effects of climate change.
***
Jennifer Hicks and Mike
Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network quote from a study by
Progressive Maryland (which I co-authored) that uncovered hundreds of millions
of dollars in loopholes for wealthy individuals and big corporations that
riddle the Maryland tax code.
The legislature's
balanced budget, which has been sent to the governor, would close some of the
most notorious of these loopholes. But Gov. Robert Ehrlich vows to veto the
budget because he does not want to close the loopholes that benefit his
campaign contributors. Instead, he says he will further slash education, environmental
and health care investments that have already been cut severely.
Worse, Ehrlich is trying
to bamboozle the public into believing that he is vetoing an across-the-board
"tax increase" on regular folks, when in fact he is trying to protect
corporations from paying their fair share of taxes.
Sean Dobson, Silver Spring
The writer is deputy
director of Progressive Maryland/Progressive Maryland Education Fund.
***
As a physician, I am aware
of the harmful health impacts caused by energy produced from fossil fuels. The
increased numbers of people suffering from respiratory disorders and heat
stress in the summer is alarming. But of more concern to me is the larger-scale
crisis created by these polluting sources -- global warming.
Scientific research
points to increased carbon dioxide, a significant component in power plant and
car emissions, in our atmosphere as the major cause of the warming of the
planet and the severe shift in global climate. The Environmental Protection
Agency and Physicians for Social Responsibility have stated that "there is
evidence that climate change, of the scale currently projected, would have
pervasive adverse impacts on human health and result in significant loss of
life." Through hotter summers, dangerous and pervasive flooding events,
devastating droughts, and the increased risk from infectious diseases commonly
found in warm areas, Maryland and all parts of the United States will soon face
health emergencies of a magnitude never seen before in our region.
To think that Maryland
gives corporations tax breaks and incentives to use fossil fuels, despite the
cost to the health of humans and the earth that sustains us, is appalling to
me.
Cindy L. Parker, MD, MPH, Baltimore
The writer is with the
Center for Public Health Preparedness, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health.
***
Hooray for Jennifer Hicks
and Mike Tidwell for exposing the corporate welfare and tax breaks given to
polluting fossil fuel suppliers, coal and fuel oil.
Maryland tax money is
better spent on clean renewable energy, like wind and solar power, that is not
subject to the price spikes we have seen in natural gas lately, and not subject
to oil price hikes like we have seen at the gasoline pump lately, and not
harmful to our environment.
Someday our homes, cars
and offices will be powered by clean, homegrown renewable technologies, solar
panels from Frederick and wind generators like they are building in western
Maryland.
Charlie Garlow, Silver Spring
The writer is chairman
of the Maryland Sierra Club's Air and Energy Committee.