Capital gains tax hike hurts state investment

Wisconsin had the lowest capital gains tax rate of all states with an income tax. That low rate was due to the 60 percent capital gain exclusion that goes back to the days of Gov. Tony Earl. With the 60 percent exclusion, Wisconsin investors enjoyed a 2.7 percent income tax rate on long-term capital gains.

With the state budget change to a 30 percent exclusion, the Wisconsin income tax rate increases to 4.725 percent (a 75 percent increase). For certain investors who fall into the new, higher marginal tax bracket of 7.75 percent, the increase will be 101 percent! What a great "reward" investors receive for investing in Wisconsin.

Our politicians do not realize the folly of such increase. Most Wisconsin investors will quickly realize the rewards of moving away from this state. Prospective nonresident investors in Wisconsin real estate and businesses will also quickly realize rewards may be greater in other states.

Since 1986 I have advised clients that Wisconsin is a great state in which to invest. When clients had the option to leave, I've explained the benefits of remaining with the lower Wisconsin capital gains tax rates. I am now forced to explain the new reality that moving may be better.

-- Michael Kane, Monona, certified public accountant

Racism and dishonesty challenge immigrants

The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice is proud to have worked with other state groups to influence the passage of a budget that takes into consideration the contributions, rights and needs of the immigrant population.

The budget provision for in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants is one we are proud to have supported. Now all children of this state will have the same chance to go to college.

We are dismayed that the provision called "driver ID cards" was killed in the Senate after being passed by the Assembly. This provision would have allowed all residents of Wisconsin to apply for a drivers' permit. Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, who was instrumental in blocking its passage, said a majority of callers to his office opposed it.

Our organization received an e-mail from someone who apparently made such calls, writing "thank God we won this one" and "We don't want illegal people in this country. We don't want their anchor babies and we want them just gone." The writer claimed to have made "300 calls to elected people using a variety of names."

Lawmakers should realize two things from this example. First, strong racism motivates the opponents of immigrant rights. Second, they use dishonest tactics to promote their cause.

-- Stefania Sani, Madison, Immigrants Rights Workgroup

Educated workforce didn't make a difference

The closing of the Briggs & Stratton plant in Jefferson is another sad day for manufacturing in Wisconsin.

The closing provides more evidence of the hypocrisy of our corporate leaders. We have long been told that education is the way to make our state economically stronger, but the move of the Briggs & Stratton jobs to Georgia and Alabama proves that our corporate leaders could not care less about education.

While Wisconsin has a high school graduation rate of over 85 percent, Georgia's and Alabama's graduation rate percentages are both in the 60s.

For years our business leaders have moved manufacturing jobs from a well-educated, motivated workforce in Wisconsin to uneducated workforces in the south, Mexico and China. Combine this with the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce group, whose sole purpose seems to be to help corporations avoid paying taxes, and you have to assume that, in spite of what they say, education doesn't matter to our corporate leaders.

-- John Hallinan, Stoughton

Don't make us pay for retailer benefits

Your recent report on a proposed overhaul of credit card interchange rates captured the basics of the fight between retail corporations and banks and credit unions. The retailers want antitrust laws waived so they can lower the rate they pay banks and credit unions for credit services when a customer pays with plastic.

But there's more to this story than an industry-versus-industry tussle over an arcane fee. History suggests if retailers get their way, not only could local banks and credit unions be fatally harmed, but working families could be out hundreds of dollars a year.

In 2003, when Australia cut the interchange rate in half, credit card annual fees rose up to 77 percent and "points" rewards fell by about 25 percent on average. Retailers didn't pass any of their savings on to customers, according to a subsequent study.

Consumers could suffer the same fate here if the so-called Credit Card Fair Fee Act becomes law. When the bill was debated last year, retailers fiercely fought an amendment requiring them to pass on savings. This year's version contains no such requirement.

Based on the retailers' own estimate, the average cardholder would pay about $400 extra a year if the bill becomes law. That's outrageous! Working families shouldn't have to fund a sweetheart deal for huge corporations.

-- Nick Eifert, Verona

Abandoning diplomacy not in our best interests

In Jonah Goldberg's second column criticizing the president for not being tough enough on Iran -- "Obama's faith in diplomacy hits reality in Iran," published June 25 -- he concedes that his last statement was getting there, but it is too late.

I think he needs to turn off Fox News. Liberal talk show host Rachel Maddow played a slew of statements Obama has made on Iran since the election, and they were all the same. The difference with the last one is that it used smaller words.

But let's agree that the president hasn't been tough enough. What should we be doing to do enough? Goldberg's solution, it would seem, is to go back to the Bush policy of not talking with the Iranian government. How is this going to help the people in the streets?

Goldberg would like an Iranian revolution without the U.S. Army doing the heavy lifting and Mir-Hossein Mousavi becoming the Iranian president because he is the reformer.

Actually, Mousavi is the ultimate insider in Iran.

He's been a member of the government, helped to fund terrorist organizations and supports nuclear bombs. His only claim to reform is that he'll try something different with the economy.

-- Derek Popp, Mount Horeb

Ironic that France is bolder than U.S. on Iran

As events in Iran have unfolded, upwards of a million young Iranians were responsible for the uprising against the election results. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been assured another term in office despite an obvious fraudulent election in which over 60 percent of the towns had more counted votes than there were registered voters.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy did not mince his words when he called the election results a farce and condemned the Iranian leadership for their heavy-handed measures resulting in several dead, many injured and hundreds imprisoned.

At the same time, our eloquent President Barack Obama's tepid response that he was impressed by the "robust debate" of the election had to leave the Iranians, marching against the sham election, wondering if Obama really understood what he was saying as they were being crushed by goon squads.

Isn't it ironic that the French, who came to our aid in the American Revolution about 230 years ago, are displaying moral fortitude while we are twiddling our thumbs?

-- Ernie Pellegrino, Middleton

Fear CEO greed, not government health care

Many Republican (and some Democratic) politicians have been throwing around arguments against a government-managed health care plan, using terms like "government bureaucrat" and "free market" and "government mandated."

Before we get too scared of the government, here are a couple of things to consider.

Officers of major health insurers, testifying before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, showed no signs of remorse for, or any plans to curb, rescission, which is the practice of retroactively canceling health insurance policies of holders with previously unknown pre-existing conditions. If you happen to fall ill, these companies may be more interested in finding ways to drop you than with finding ways to help you.

Also, remember that Bill McGuire, former CEO of UnitedHealth Group, accumulated total compensation of $1.6 billion during 2005, just a hair over $4 million a day if he worked all 365 of them. I wonder how many policies were canceled to help pay that?

So the next time you worry about a government bureaucrat managing your health care, remember that the people taking care of you now have no qualms with, and have a financial interest in, dropping your coverage when you need it the most.

-- Patrick Olson, Sun Prairie