Even fleeting tax relief is welcome

To the editor:

I found Mark Olsen's letter regarding the back-to-school tax holiday to be most revealing. I don't know what a research associate does, nor am I familiar with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Columbia. You would think a research associate might present a little more balanced argument.

Sure, sales taxes could eat up a higher percentage of a lower-income-earner's paycheck, but consumer taxes are pretty fair on a number of levels. We can choose what and how much to buy beyond basic sustenance. And wealthy taxpayers rightfully pay a huge percentage of the income tax, which I'm sure Olsen's research confirms.

And Olsen apparently hasn't researched the back-to-school ads which makes obvious the great competition at the retail level for these rabid customers.

I don't think this holiday is presented as serious tax reform and may in fact involve a touch of politics. Relief, even fleeting, is welcome. Olsen obviously has an agenda and knows quite a bit about smoke and mirrors.

RANDY DUNN, Oak Ridge