Letter to Editor

I would like to discuss the two editorial articles in today’s (July 4) Tribune.

Michael Hicks has a typo. He says “The best estimate I have seen suggest that maybe 108 million humans have ever lived.”

He is talking about since the beginning of time. Somewhere between Mr. Hicks writing and the Tribune, the “b” in billion got to be an “m.”

The other article written by Trudy Lieberman is discussing a possible shortfall in Medicare money.

She states, “Changes in the tax law passed late last year results in lower than expected revenues.

Trustees (Medicare trustees) noted that lower payroll tax revenue which results from lower wages and lower economic growth projections for the future.” Let’s get things straight. The changes in the income tax did not take effect until the year 2018 and the result won’t be known until the end of this year. The lower income tax rate does not affect the Medicare tax collected from wage earners. The Medicare tax did not change.

I don’t know whose idea it was that wages have been lowered. Just the opposite is true. Wages are being raised and the number of people employed is also increasing so that the income taxes collected as well as the Medicare taxes are actually increasing. Some people who are writing the articles appearing in the Tribune either do not understand what they are writing about or they are not being truthful.

Phil Cordes, Seymour