If you read the article on the exceptional tax burden Hawaii imposes on its poorest residents, you probably felt as I did when I read that “those in the bottom 20 percent of the income range pay out 15 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while those in the top 1 percent pay only 8.9 percent.” (“State’s poor face heavy tax burden, study finds,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 22).

How unfair and even cruel!

Your chance to change this is here. The Legislature sets tax rates. Bills come before our legislators every year that would make our taxation system more fair. Somehow, they never succeed and we continue to fund our state through taxing the poor at a higher rate than the rest of us.

Find the phone numbers of legislative candidates on their websites or ads. Call them and ask whether they support making our tax system more fair.

Then vote for candidates who commit to eliminating state income tax for people whose incomes make them seriously poor, as do 35 states.

Beppie Shapiro

Waialae-Kahala

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