The National Education Association’s Patrick Crowley, apparently the misinformation front man (self-appointed?) for Rhode Island’s special interests, has a professional interest in his conclusions. His Jan. 28 letter “Rhetoric about R.I. doesn’t match facts” is pure static — meant to be hypnotic, but merely annoying when so poorly executed.

He notes that cash handouts claim a small percentage of total state spending. This is among the Poverty Institute’s favorite talking points. He notes that such handouts are also a small percentage of our welfare system. As AnchorRising.com contributor Marc Comtois recently pointed out, the Department of Human Resources “comprises nearly 40 percent of the budget — that money goes somewhere.”

Crowley cites the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council’s finding that Rhode Island “ranks 23rd in the country for overall tax burden.” According to AR contributor Andrew Morse’s related research, Rhode Island is actually in the top 10 for taxes. Fees cause our drop, because we are toward the bottom in collecting them for a variety of activities. I’d suggest that, if people pay for a service anyway, then the fact that the check doesn’t go to the government is hardly a positive point.

Crowley goes on to blame right-wingers for preventing property-tax reform to help “the rich,” because the property tax is regressive. But he’s redefining reform as redistribution. Such taxes are based on the value of property, not the owner’s income.

The poor man pays the same tax that a rich man would pay for the same property. It’s easy to target “the rich” — and I’m not one of them — but it’s insanity to keep pulling them down or driving them away through corrosively progressive taxation.

Crowley’s complaint that corporate-income taxes contribute a lower percentage of government revenue today than in the ’70s received sufficient response from one of AR’s readers: “The tax law changed in 1986 so that most corporations became s-corps,” for which the taxes are drawn from individual shareholders’ income.

Crowley’s “facts” don’t refute my argument: People in the demographic that pays the majority of taxes and advances the state’s economy are fleeing, and folks with a vested interest in the system that is driving them away (folks like Pat Crowley) are only tightening their grip on Rhode Islanders’ throats.

JUSTIN KATZ

Portsmouth