I read that Les Otten, a wealthy guy, longs to become governor of our fair state. The state is in the hole big-time, over $400 million, because of the Great Recession. How does he propose to deal with the deficit? He’s a wealthy guy, so of course he would not raise taxes. He calls on all candidates to take the no-more-taxes pledge.

That’s wrong. In fact, if we raise taxes to keep people such as state mental health workers on the job, we will save money in the long run. Remember “a stitch in time saves nine”? Plus, those people will buy groceries and go to movies, recycling the money in our economy, and thereby keep other people employed. Think of it as a stimulus package.

Sure, many of us will say don’t raise taxes on me. That’s fine. A good friend of mine proposed a tax of 50 percent on all private campaign expenditures. Les Otten spends $10 million to try to become governor? He puts $5 million into the state coffers. That will definitely help.

Such a tax would be deemed to violate the First Amendment, so I am only dreaming. I am serious, though, about raising taxes. We need to do so.

Chalmers Hardenbergh
Yarmouth