Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 9, 1995                   TAG: 9502090045
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TAX-CUT PLAN OFFERS MORE THAN PENNIES

In a Jan. 11 story (``Legislators to begin wrestling with the $46 question''), you neglected to include many pertinent facts about the governor's initiative. It was stated that a family of four with an adjusted federal gross income of $40,000 would save $46 in the first year of the income-tax reduction plan. The rest of the story, which you forgot to mention, is that by the end of the fifth year of the plan, there would be a cumulative savings of $966 for that same family - a 26 percent drop in state income taxes.

The administration's proposal would triple the personal, dependent, age and blind exemptions for the state income tax from the present level of $800 to $2,400. The tax cut would be retroactive, effective Jan. 1, and would be phased in over five years. All Virginia taxpayers will realize some relief, but the changes will be felt most by working Virginians with families.

Under the plan, a family of four with $24,000 in income will have its state taxes cut in half. And when fully phased in by tax year 1999, a working couple with two children would pay no state income tax on the first $14,600 of income - as opposed to the first $8,200 of income under current law.

The plan would mean that up to 84,000 low-income taxpayers will no longer be paying any state income tax at all.

Pennies to some families are a windfall to others. Additional groceries, extra gasoline to get to and from work, or a pair of shoes for the children is something most families appreciate.

ROBERT W. LAUTERBERG

Director

Department of Planning and Budget

Commonwealth of Virginia

RICHMOND

Why didn't Allen think of this?

WE'D LIKE to make a modest proposal that seems to be compatible with current thinking in Richmond on how to handle higher education and prisons.

We suggest that a big fence be put around all colleges and universities in Virginia, and these institutions be called prisons. The immediate benefit to the colleges and universities would be an increase in their base budgets for the first time in several years since each prisoner ($20,000 plus) is worth more than four times as much as each student ($5,000 plus). The benefit to taxpayers is that it would save $2 billion in prison-construction costs, and that savings could be put toward a tax cut.

The present trend indicates the need for changes in career preparation. Instead of professors, we'll need only prison guards. Instead of training accountants, we could train embezzlers. Instead of training doctors to save lives, we could train prisoners to take lives. Instead of training mechanical engineers, we could train license-plate makers. Instead of training agriculturalists who produce food, we could train thieves who steal food. Instead of training lawyers as lawmakers, we could train prisoners as lawbreakers.

If you believe this proposal has merit, please let the governor and members of the state legislature know as soon as possible.

JOHN and SHAREN HILLISON

BLACKSBURG

Band's revival is music to the ears

REGARDING the Jan. 22 Extra section article ('Back at the old stand'') on the resurrection of the Freddie Lee Orchestra with the grand opening of the new Hotel Roanoke:

We're delighted in the reopening of the newly restored hotel. We and so many others have such fond memories of events we attended there.

Part of the greatness of that fine old hostelry was the regular presentation of the Freddie Lee Orchestra in the ballroom. I can't make a judgment about the controversy surrounding the ownership of the name ``Freddie Lee'' in a commercial sense, but I know that all who danced to and enjoyed Fred Corstaphney's band and music can't imagine such a nostalgic evening as the reopening of the Hotel without ``Freddie Lee'' Corstaphney leading the band.

He's recognized as an outstanding artist throughout the region by his contemporaries, and by many who have followed in the music profession. Can there possibly be a more fitting way to celebrate Hotel Roanoke's reopening than with the presentation of the Freddie Lee Orchestra led by the inimitable ``Freddie Lee''? No other alternative seems quite right. We hope for the benefit of the community that the opening regalia features that great sound and is led by the ``silver fox'' himself, Corstaphney.

LOIS and DICK STEELE

ORLEANS, CAPE COD, MA