The News Tribune, on Oct. 17, endorsed Tom Horner for governor. The newspaper is entitled to make any selection it likes. However, I think it did its readers a disservice by using inflammatory language to describe gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton as from the "far left." That is the kind of demagogic labeling one might expect from Glenn Beck, not the newspaper in Duluth.
In fact, progressive taxation started out as a Republican idea, introduced under GOP President Theodore Roosevelt. As Roosevelt said, "No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. Every dollar received should represent a dollar's worth of service rendered, not gambling in stocks, but service rendered. ...Therefore I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes."
Mark Dayton's proposal to raise revenues through the addition of a fourth income tax bracket on couples earning more than $150,000 a year and a third property tax bracket on homes valued at more than $1 million is not "far left." It's fair. It's progressive. And we think Teddy Roosevelt would agree with him.
Mary Jo Connolly
Duluth
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Mary Rosenthal
St. Paul
Rosenthal is formerly of Duluth
