I have to take issue with at least two of Patrick Crowley’s “facts” in his Jan. 28 letter “R.I. rich don’t pay enough taxes.”

He writes: “Rhode Island ranks 23rd in the country for overall tax burden according to the Rhode Island Public Expenditure council.” Last year’s data from the Tax Foundation, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, says that Rhode Island ranks fourth highest in state taxes, 13th highest in federal tax burden, and sixth highest in average state local tax burden.

He writes: “The tax that hurts the average Rhode Islander the most, the property tax, needs to be changed, but right-wingers won’t let it happen. Why? because it would take an increase in the income tax to offset the change. People in the highest income quintile with an average household income of $196,419 pay only 2.85 percent of their income on property tax. People in the lowest bracket pay 8.1 percent of their income to property tax.”

Does Mr. Crowley expect everyone to live in a liberal-socialist utopia where everyone gets paid the same no matter what his or her job is — as, say, in Cuba, with all the benefits one gets in that country?

Come on, Mr. Crowley. You know the main problems here are not the result of the rich not paying enough taxes. The middle class is the group that gets killed by high taxes, mostly because of the excesses of the labor unions and the connivance of the politicians who are in bed with them.

And you have the nerve to state that the facts are skewed in a column by Justin Katz!

BOB OWENS

Smithfield