"Taxing education" Letter to the editor Tom Denton

Taxing Education

Tax bills currently in the House and Senate variously propose the following:

1.  Would impose a 1.4%  excise tax on the interest income of private university endowments subject to guidelines.   Here are some private institutions in New York that would be affected:

• Williams College
• Hamilton College
• Cooper Union
• Columbia University
• Vassar College
• Colgate University

(Chronicle of Higher Education)

2.Would require tuition waivers or reductions currently granted to college & university employees and their families—faculty, staff, maintenance—to be taxed as income.   Many of these waivers have been negotiated in good faith in lieu of salary compensation for the workers.

3.  Would tax tuition waivers for graduate students, who do much of the work in educational institutions.  The money would be deducted from their typically measly stipends, which are far less than annual tuition.

4.  Would eliminate the existing deduction of interest on student loans at certain amounts.  The average student (class of ’16) has over $37,000 in student loan debt. 

5.  Would eliminate the individual deduction for teachers who pay for classroom materials out of their own pockets.

There are additional items in the bills that would harm our nation’s students and institutions of higher learning.  How can one look at this list and not conclude that the Republican party is painting a bullseye on our students, colleges, and universities?  And for what?  To reduce the taxes of corporations and the wealthiest individuals.

Constituents should let their representatives know that we do not want their tax bills to attack the seed corn of our democracy.

Publishing History

Daily Freeman                      11/25

"No ‘hoax’ in threat of climate change" Letter to the editor Ted Millar

Dear Editor:

It appears the walls of reality are beginning to close in on climate change deniers.

The recently released fourth National Climate Assessment report confirms what scientists have been warning us about for decades: Human activity is the primary cause of global warming, and dire consequences like sea level rise of 8 feet by century’s end and more catastrophic weather are guaranteed if we fail to act.


What this means is climate skeptics can no longer retreat behind superficial talking points about climate change being a “hoax.”



I call on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to continue his leadership on offshore wind energy.

I also call on U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, to protect measures in the federal tax plan favorable to renewable energy that the Trump administration wants to eliminate or limit, namely tax credits for electric vehicles and subsidies for sustainable energy development.


Ted Millar

Publishing history

Daily Freeman 11/22/17

"To the editor" Letter to the editor Susan Denton

To the Editor:

   On Sunday morning in Sutherland Texas,  26 year old Devin Patrick Kelly

killed 26 people as they prayed in church. Responding to the

slaughter, Donald Trump described it as “a mental health problem at the highest level”.

    The president’s misconstruction of "a mental health problem" rings hollow. Domestic violence is so often the predictor of greater violence that it is now a factor in the majority of mass shootings. IT WAS MURDER. Devin Kelley could not have done this without a gun.

   Sadly, heartbreakingly, intimate partner violence is at the root of so much violence. If it were used as a predictor of future behavior, we could make a significant dent in crime statistics. The landscapes are littered with the collateral damage of our failure to do this. Abusers escalate.

    When women are valued less than men, blamed for everything from bad mothering to being the architects of their own rapes, domestic violence is viewed as a lesser crime. The word “domestic” implies a prior relationship in which the victim unwisely brought the crime against herself.  

    Call domestic crimes what they are and charge them exactly as we would if they were committed by strangers. Assault, battery, rape; use the term strangulation instead of choking, menacing instead of harassment.  Be clear.

    States and municipalities will show that they can make a difference in a virulent criminal public health scourge. This is a terrorism we can stop.

Susan Denton

Publishing History

Poughkeepsie Journal 11/15/17