to the editor: Contributing writer Veronique de Rugy may be right with her recent op-ed, but she backs it up with sloppy logic (“Taxing the rich will not get us out of this mess” March 12).
The first half of the op-ed focuses on progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), urging higher federal tax rates and the claim that this will not solve problems like the Medicare spending gap. But he backs his point with examples at the state level, specifically in Washington, California and Connecticut, and argues that billionaires will simply move to another state to avoid taxes. Of course, billionaires don't have that option if they pay taxes at the federal level.
We may not be able to tax our way out of the trouble we're in, but that claim needs to be supported by more credible studies than those offered here.
Rick Krizman, Santa Monica
