I want to thank columnist Jim Fossel for talking about “soaking the rich” when it comes to taxes and our state budget (“Janet Mills, Democrats prepare to unleash tax tsunami on Maine,” April 13). A quick look around tells us about the precarious state of what is loosely termed our social safety net: hospitals, health care clinics, social service agencies, food banks, subsidized housing and other related services for those in need. Shrinking availability matched with growing needs clearly means a greater level of suffering for a greater number of our fellow Mainers.

One of the two great conspiracies of silence in public conversation (the other being the impact of our military budget on services for our citizenry) is the level of wealth inequality in America. The Federal Reserve has a website where this information is readily available. What is clear to me, after a brief review of the data, is that in fact the rich have been soaking the rest of us for decades.

We are now at a point where the top 10% have accumulated twice the amount of combined wealth as the remaining 90%, and this after a steady increase over the past 25 years.

There’s an old phrase about why people rob banks — “because that’s where the money is.”

So, I say, “Tax the rich.” That’s where the money is.

Thomas Kircher
Biddeford