Dear Editor:

Senator Dana Dow portrays a tax cut for the rich as a small business issue when really it is not. If you want to see who is pulling down the big bucks take a look around to see who is buying up shoreland properties. It is certainly not the small business owners who make a living from fishing and lobstering. The coveted deep water shoreline properties are being bought up by high net worth individuals who probably are not small business owners.

But let’s talk about the needs of small business owners anyway.

The first thing one needs is capital. We have an efficient banking system including the SBA and CEI to help raise capital. Perhaps if Dow were concerned about businesses needing capital, he should look at strengthening our banking system by making it safe to invest in.

Having secured the capital to implement an idea, one needs the plant, equipment and the skilled workforce to create the goods. Included here is infrastructure to transport the power, goods, people and information from one place to another. Dow should support legislation to fix our crumbling infrastructure and fully fund education. This has the added benefit of providing jobs that fuel the economy.

But creating goods by themselves is not enough. A market is needed to sell into. For that you need people who want and can afford the goods. Dow should see that workers are paid a fair and reasonable wage and avoid shifting taxes onto them.

After the capital has been raised, business built, goods sold, and the bills paid; there is the profit. Tax policy is one of the most inefficient ways to prompt business growth because the profit has already been made; and there is little assurance that tax monies saved will go toward growing the economy.

Dow’s pursuit of tax policy to spur business growth is putting the cart before the horse. It has the net effect of concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few. That is how we end up with rich business owners in charge of government.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay