Columbia, SC — Politicians talk about increasing taxes on one rich person to help 99 poor people, knowing that’s candy to the ears of the 99. But to take from “the rich” is anything but fair.

Some folks insist that it’s fairest for everyone to pay the same proportion of their income in taxes; others say as incomes rise it’s fairest for people to pay an increasing proportion of their income in taxes.

But our tax laws don’t result from government’s interest in fairness. They result from government’s obsessive interest in coming up with spending money.

The problem is that “the rich” provide the capital necessary to sustain our economy and expand it. If their capital is taken from them through taxes to satisfy an ever-growing appetite for big-government programs, it can no longer be used to grow our economy and create jobs.

As government finances its growth by commandeering private capital, private-sector growth is sacrificed, and paychecks are replaced by public-assistance checks. There’s nothing at all right about the government sacrificing private-sector growth that’s so crucial for our friends and neighbors who admirably provide for their families while prudently saving and investing for their golden years.

Kelly Payne

Columbia