Re: "Cuccinelli approves scholarship tax credits," May 31
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's fallacious argument on scholarship tax credits rests on sinking sand.When asked by Del. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, whether a $25 million dollar tax credit for scholarship donations to private schools violates Virginia's constitutional prohibition of public appropriations for private K-12 schools, Cuccinelli said no.
He falsely equates tax credits with tax deductions. As every tax adviser will agree, they are not equal. Tax credits generate a dollar for dollar reduction in tax liabilities and revenues, meaning there is zero after-tax cost to donors.
"If the meaning of 'appropriation' were extended as you suggest, charitable donations to churches would not be deductible for Virginia income tax purposes," Cuccinelli falsely argues, Nice canard, Ken.
Here's a simple truth test: If it's not an appropriation, why do you need to limit tax credits to $25 million or any dollar amount?
Will Radle
Fairfax
Fenty lost mayoral race all by himself
Re: "Election fraud in D.C?," May 30
Jonetta Rose Barras sees conspiracies under every rock. Her column is rife with her version of the facts, which sadly are both biased and wrong.
It does matter whether Vincent Gray was aware of what some of his campaign workers did. If he knew, he is most likely guilty of a crime. If he didn't, he is simply guilty of trusting the wrong people, and that isn't a crime.
And Gray wouldn't be the first mayor to do that. Remember when Tony Williams had to run as a write-in candidate because he trusted the wrong people to work on his campaign?
What Barras and so many others fail to accept in their rush to judgment is that Adrian Fenty lost the mayoral election all on his own. He began with a record of winning every precinct in his first election and a $5 million campaign war chest, mostly from people who had gotten something during his first term.
But Fenty totally lost contact and a connection with his constituents, and had his own set of cronies who got contracts and jobs with the city.
All Gray had to do is get his name on the ballot and run a regular campaign and the polling showed he would have won without the sideshow of Sulaimon Brown, or any other shenanigans that may have occurred.
Peter D. Rosenstein
Washington
Education vouchers for private schools segregate children
Re: "Parental choice is the best reform to education," May 30
Diana Furchgott-Roth's column touting school vouchers overlooks the fact that 90 percent of private schools are church-based religious institutions, so taxing all Americans to support them violates every citizen's religious freedom.
Tens of millions of voters have rejected vouchers or their variants two to one in 26 statewide referenda from coast to coast. Catholic schools have declined from 5.5million students in 1965 to two million today because Catholic parents now prefer public schools, and private schools are selective in ways that are illegal in public schools.
The main thrust of the school voucher movement is to privatize education and to separate children by religion, ideology, class, ethnicity and ability level. Most Americans do not support that.
Edd Doerr
President,
Americans for Religious Liberty
Silver Spring
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