Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District, has had one obsession throughout his campaign for U.S Senate, and it appears endlessly in his television ads and news media interviews. He wants Republican candidate Linda McMahon to pay an additional $7 million per year in taxes.
Her $7 million tax savings is derived from lower tax rates on capital-gains and investment income, so her tax savings will only go away if Rep. Murphy raises the tax rates on capital gains and investment income.
Therefore, Rep. Murphy is proposing that senior citizens, such as myself, who do not have generous state or congressional pensions (like Rep. Murphy), will have to pay higher tax rates on our only source of income other than Social Security: capital gains and investment income.
If the tax rate on capital gains is raised from 15 percent to 20 percent, Rep. Murphy will increase the tax rates for senior citizens by 33 percent on capital gains they accrued over many years by investing their savings in the U.S. economy.
If Rep. Murphy's repeal of the 15 percent tax rate on investment income is enacted, the tax on investment income will jump to 25 percent or 28 percent for middle-income senior citizens, an increase of 67 percent to 87 percent in taxes on investment income relied upon for retirement by middle-income senior citizens.
This obsession with taxes paid by one individual out of 300 million people in the United States is dangerous. Correcting this one problem for Rep. Murphy could cause millions of senior citizens who are barely surviving to fall into poverty.
I can't bring myself to vote for a politician whose one purpose in life would so adversely affect the incomes of so many middle-income senior citizens.
Frederick Townsend
Wolcott
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