Just read Edgar Allen Beem’s latest effort on taxes, and as usual he does a great job of stirring the pot.

The inference to me is that tax avoidance is a recent concept. But tax avoidance has been around since the beginning of taxes. There is no legal requirement to pay more than you have to; tax avoidance and tax evasion are very different.

If one looks at some of the older cities in the U.S., one finds that many of the original houses do not face the street. That is due to the fact that owners were taxed on the street frontage and the sides were narrower.

We do need comprehensive tax reform to deal with a whole host of financial and economic issues at the federal level. I am afraid to say that I don’t know enough about Sen. Woodbury’s effort at the state level. But as for Wyman Station, the notion that the town would be better off taking it for back taxes and demolishing it is Pollyannaish.

Demolition would cost tens of millions of dollars, and guess who would foot the bill? Wyman is an ugly eyesore. It was when it was built. The smartest thing to do with the property would be to allow a mixed use development, perhaps even using one set of the high-tension poles to carry a cable car access with a parking area inland.

Certainly, the town does not need to take on any additional financial burdens.

C.M. Cunningham

Yarmouth

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