We need greater tax fairness in Rhode Island and a spirit of sharing and common sacrifices like that of the “Greatest Generation” of the 1940’s. Then we can come through our state’s difficult financial period, as we did during the credit union crisis. The present crisis, like the credit union failures, was caused by inappropriate special-interest legislation, which needs to be quickly reversed.

Governor Carcieri has argued that the phase-out of the long-term capital gains tax, the phase-in of the flat tax and the tax benefit to CEOs who brought businesses to Rhode Island would provide economic development. He got those tax reductions, which mainly benefited the very wealthy. But his anecdotal arguments are now even less convincing, in view of our lack of job growth, cutbacks in education and increases in the numbers of homeless and hungry Rhode Islanders.

In The Providence Journal of July 2, 2006 [Business Editor] John Kostrzewa warned us of the “structural mismatch in which built-in costs exceeded projected revenues” in the Rhode Island state budget.

The approval of a flat tax to benefit the wealthiest Rhode Islanders will cost us $23.4 million in lost revenue next year. And two thirds of this will benefit those making more than $1 million per year, according to an analysis of the Poverty Institute.

An additional $19 million could be raised this year by returning the long-term capital gains tax back to 5 percent, according to Rhode Island House Speaker Tempore Charlene M. Lima, D-Cranston.

To achieve tax fairness we must balance self interest with public interest. Self interest and public interest have not always been out of balance. The men and women of the Greatest Generation still had that balance. This was formed by the sharing and common sacrifice of the Great Depression, as well as World War II. Beginning in the 1930’s, our elected leaders built and strengthened the middle class. They invested in our most valuable assets, educated citizens and first rate infrastructure that we are still using, but not repairing.

The top federal tax rate was 90 percent in the 1940’s, and it was still 70 percent in 1980. How has it come about that, in the midst of an even longer war, the marginal tax rate for wealthy Americans is now 35 percent? Let’s just take one snapshot in time. The headline in USA Today on May 16, 2006 was “Another Year, Another Tax Cut, and Look Who’s Cleaning Up.” They were reporting on the $69-billion tax-cut bill President Bush had just signed into law. That tax cut gave an estimated 80 percent of the reduction to the top 10 percent of taxpayers.

With greater tax fairness in Rhode Island and more emphasis on our common interest, we can come through our state’s difficult financial period. To achieve tax fairness we must balance self interest with our long-term common interest. Income taxes should be increased enough at the high income end to have both good schools and a significant reduction in property taxes. Then middle-class taxpayers could receive at least a modest reduction in their total state taxes. And a tax increase could then be supported by the vast majority of taxpayers.

Donald W. Tufts, of Warwick, is a former chairman of the School Committee and member of the Town Council in East Greenwich plus a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Rhode Island.