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The nation is facing two crises that the next Congress needs to act on. One is the rapidly increasing national debt, which has reached $40 trillion and is increasing by $2 trillion per year. The other is the high cost of healthcare.
Concerning the national debt, it is clear to me that taxes need to be increased rather than to further decrease government functions such as protection of our food, water, health, parks, and the basic scientific research that underlies our world leadership in technology. The needed increase in taxes should come from high income groups, which now take home a much larger fraction of national income than in the past. The top 10% of taxpayers pay at an average rate of about 23%, far below the top bracket of 37%.
However Susan Collins is showing no interest in raising taxes for anyone, and voted for the tax cuts of the first Trump administration. In contrast Troy Jackson is proposing a tax on billionaires.
The U.S. spends almost twice as much on healthcare per person than do other wealthy nations. Although Collins has succeeded in getting federal funding for certain facilities and diseases, she has no proposals for reducing our high costs for healthcare. In contrast Troy Jackson proposes Medicare for All, which should reduce paperwork and lower costs.
I believe Troy Jackson will work toward the needed changes, while with Susan Collins we can expect continued growth in healthcare costs and unsustainable growth in the federal deficit.
John Tjepkema
Orono