Letters to the Editor - 1/30/25

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and the Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Compliments to Salisbury P&Z for work on Wake Robin application

I am writing to compliment Dr. Michael Klemens and his fellow Commissioners Catherine Shyer, Allen Cockerline, Martin Whalen and Robert Riva — and by extension the Town Salisbury — on the outstanding job they did in considering the Wake Robin Inn Special Permit Application. At $20+ million, this is the largest single construction project in Salisbury in memory. The application engendered enormous interest among multiple elements of the community. The Commissioners led the discussions with fairness and firmness. Through seven zoom sessions, they never “lost their cool,” and Dr. Klemens kept some of the most vociferous fellow citizens in order. I was also impressed that the Chairman gave every member of the community wishing to address the P&Z an opportunity to do so, some even on multiple occasions.

Our home is one of the abutters to the Wake Robin Inn property. As a result, we are one of the properties most impacted by this application. I felt great confidence as I watched Dr. Klemens, his fellow Commissioners and staff Abby Conroy and Miles Todaro guide the discussions and deliberations. We in Salisbury are fortunate to have this P&Z Commission team and staff guiding this complex application process.

Mark S. Hochberg, M.D.

Lakeville

Thoughts on impact from minimum wage hike

I found it interesting that the local business owners interviewed for the story about Connecticut’s new minimum wage lamented that with the small increase in hourly wages some of their staff would lose their state benefits (health insurance, food and energy assistance, affordable housing.)

What no one pointed out was that the previous minimum wage ($15.69 per hour) was not a “living wage” because those who earned it could not support themselves. (That may not have changed even with the increased minimum wage.)

What struck me was that Americans in business expect the American taxpayer to supplement the wages they pay their employees and to subsidize their labor costs.

Laurie Nussdorfer

Amenia Union, New York

A proposal for boosting tax revenue

After a long career in business, I offer this modest proposal for increasing federal tax revenue in the hope that our political leaders will take note.

Under the current tax code, taxes are due only when they are earned or realized — for example, salary or capital gains from sales of assets that have appreciated.

However, if you gift an appreciated asset to a charity or a foundation, you will be entitled to a tax deduction on the value of the gift (with some limitations) without ever paying tax on any increase in value of the gift.

This is also true upon death: if under your will or revocable trust you give a gift to a charitable organization, or a foundation (including your personal foundation), the gift will be exempt from estate taxes and no taxes on the increase in value will be paid.

My proposal would only affect the super-rich, who often use these rules to avoid paying any taxes on these gifts to charity.

1. Lifetime gifts under $25 million would be exempt from any taxes, to keep gifting incentivized.

2. Lifetime gifts from $25 million to $50 million would be subject to one half of the current federal long-term capital gains tax (which is 20% for the folks who would be affected by my proposal).

3. Lifetime gifts from $50 million to $100 million would be subject to the current federal long-term capital gains tax.

4. Lifetime gifts from 100 million to 500 million dollars would be subject to a federal long-term capital gains tax of 30%.

5. Lifetime gifts of over $500 million would be subject to a federal long-term capital gains tax of 40%.

Mort Klaus

Sharon and Boca Raton, Florida

North Canaan Fire Co. gets kudos for response

I want everyone to know what a great group of men we have in the North Canaan Volunteer Fire Company. Sunday morning I discovered smoke filling my house. It wasn’t from a fire, but a blocked chimney pipe. They arrived in full force and took care of the problem. They were very concerned about my welfare and my cat who ran away. He came back in the afternoon.

Again a big thank you to a great group of men. We are lucky to have them in North Canaan.

Carolyn McDonough

Canaan

Antisemitism is not amusing

Six of us served on the Planning Committee for the Salisbury Stand With Israel Vigil held shortly after the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023. We write in response to the noxious letter from Lloyd Baroody in the Jan. 16 paper.

Mr. Baroody undoubtedly intended his letter to be a humorous response to the loose talk about making Canada our 51st state. But there is no room for humor regarding the barbaric events of Oct. 7, the worldwide outbreak of antisemitism unleashed by that event, or the constant call for the eradication of the State of Israel — “From the river to the sea,” as U.S. anti-Semites constantly chant on our college campuses and in our cities.

Mr. Baroody notes that Israel receives substantial U.S. foreign aid. But that “foreign aid” is largely money that never leaves American hands; it is invested in American military and defense capabilities and shared with Israel, the front-line defender of Western Civilization in the Middle East.

Pat Johnson, a Canadian writer and commentator, has suggested that “Palestine,” not Israel, is the better economic choice for confederation with the U.S. Palestinians are the world’s largest per capita recipients of humanitarian aid, having swallowed up billions of aid dollars with effectively no improvement in the lives of everyday Palestinians. If the US had control of those vast sums and brought to bear it’s know-how in infrastructure and nation building, Palestinians might begin to see some improvement in their lives. Palestinians live next door to one of mankind’s greatest models of post-colonial nation building, yet have steadfastly scorned any lessons from that experience.

The most obnoxious part of Mr. Baroody’s letter is his use of the terms “genocidal slaughter” and “holocaust” to describe Israel’s response to the Hamas massacre. Those terms describe the 20th Century Jewish experience in Germany and Europe. Their use to score political points against Israel is abhorrent and totally distorts what is happening today in the Middle East. While Baroody and other critics of Israel concoct a so-called “genocide” in Gaza, actual genocides are taking place throughout the world; they include the incessant calls for the genocide of Jews — which is, of course, the foundational ideology of those who instigated the current conflict. This ideology must not be allowed to take root in our country.

Mike Abram Nadav Goshen

Michael Auerbach Lawrence Hutzler

Alan Friedman Marylene Friedman
Paulette Hutzler

Tom Morrison

Salisbury