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National tax for wealthy unlikely with GOP
Re: “Newsom pivoting on billionaire tax” (Page A1, June 27). Gov. Newsom is right in warning that the ultra-wealthy will flee the state if the billionaire tax passes and in emphasizing the need for a federal solution.
However, a federal tax on the assets of the ultra-wealthy would likely fail because the U.S. Constitution requires any “direct tax” (such as a tax on private land holdings) to be apportioned among the states according to their populations. Thus, states with no or few billionaires would fight any attempt to make them bear any part of a tax measured by the billions amassed by California and New York billionaires.
In sum, the optimal strategy is to concentrate on electing a president and Congress who will significantly raise the federal tax rates on corporate profits and the personal income tax rates on capital gains, dividends and the other income streams that go untaxed due to the avoidance schemes used by the ultra-wealthy.
Kennedy Richardson
Piedmont
Program to transport seniors needs drivers
Re: “Making the difficult call to stop driving” (Page A1, June 23).
There has been a recent increase in concern over seniors needing or being required to give up their driver’s license and secure outside support.
In this regard, the nonprofit Mobility Matters has a solution. They have volunteer drivers who will provide door-to-door service that takes qualified seniors in need from their homes to their medical appointments, waits in the doctor’s office and returns them for free.
The need is for more drivers, as there are thousands to be helped. Please step up and volunteer a few hours a month.
Edi Birsan
Concord
Walnut Creek’s cash diversion to bike lanes
The county and city of Walnut Creek have conspired to divert over $6 million in highway funds toward the construction of bike lanes along a three-block section of Treat Boulevard between North Main Street and Jones Road. Construction is scheduled to start this fall on a road that currently carries over 40,000 vehicles a day.
It’s not clear how many, if any, bikers will use the new lanes rather than the existing Canal Trail that is dedicated to bikes and pedestrians, located two blocks south of Treat and mirrors the proposed project.
Commuters traveling north on 680 and heading east on Treat Boulevard will also lose the dedicated right-hand turnoff onto Treat and, instead, will be directed to a stoplight on Treat.
County supervisors and city officials have ignored the repeated objections of the local neighborhood association affected by this proposal.
Larry McEwen
Walnut Creek
Heat waves prove we must halt emissions
Re: “More temperature records fall as deadly heat lingers in Europe” (Page A4, June 26). The evidence is no longer in question: The intensity of the deadly heatwaves in Asia during the spring and across Europe right now is the result of the climate pollution we continue to pump into the atmosphere.
We, in the United States and around the world, must stop polluting the air with greenhouse gases. Getting to “net zero” is not an arbitrary slogan. It is dictated by the laws of physics. To halt warming, net greenhouse gas emissions must stop.
We need stronger leadership from the Senate and House, from our state leaders, and from our county and municipal leaders.
Jeffrey Spencer
Fremont
Trump plainly states reason for voter rules
The GOP controls the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House. Why then are they the ones attempting to curb unsubstantiated election fraud?
The answer may have come earlier from Rome, Georgia, on Feb 20, 2026, when Donald Trump provided the motivation, if not the corrupt part, out loud: “We’ll never lose a race. For 50 years, we won’t lose a race.”
Last week, he wouldn’t sign the landmark, bipartisan Affordable Housing Bill unless the GOP passed the Save Act first.
Interesting priorities.
Barry Brynjulson
Pleasanton
Lift cap on earnings for Social Security tax
Speaker Johnson doesn’t seem to understand that you can’t solve the Social Security deficit problem by benefit reductions alone.
To be fair, you must raise revenue by eliminating the $184,500 cap on earnings and taxing total earnings. Let the overpaid athletes, entertainers, CEOs, investment bankers, hedge fund managers, etc., pay their fair share and help support the program.
Joseph Rizzuto
Los Gatos
Trump plainly states reason for voter rules
The GOP controls the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House. Why then are they the ones attempting to curb unsubstantiated election fraud?
The answer may have come earlier from Rome, Georgia, on Feb 20, 2026, when Donald Trump provided the motivation, if not the corrupt part, out loud: “We’ll never lose a race. For 50 years, we won’t lose a race.”
Last week, he wouldn’t sign the landmark, bipartisan Affordable Housing Bill unless the GOP passed the Save Act first.
Interesting priorities.
Barry Brynjulson
Pleasanton