Letters to the Editor | May 7, 2023

House Republicans have passed a bill titled the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which cuts future government spending in support of raising the limit on the national debt. Aside from cutting services that cost our elected government tax money, the bill also reduces the funding for the IRS to accomplish its duty to lawfully collect taxes owed by taxpayers who do not pay them — either mistakenly or willfully. This bill repeals previous IRS funding ($80 billion over 10 years) for the auditing of tax returns submitted by persons earning more than $400,000 a year. Audits have declined over the years due to lack of funding and a decreasing workforce. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that properly funding the IRS will generate $207 billion of revenue over 10 years. That amounts to a net gain of $127 billion in revenue that would have otherwise been added to the national debt. Bellyaching about paying taxes is an American tradition protected by the First Amendment, but ignoring the nonpayment of taxes is not only corrupt, it actually increases the debt.

Wayne Williams, Malvern

I would like to thank Inquirer reporters Chris Palmer, Ellie Rushing, Vinny Vella, and Dylan Purcell for their well-researched and clearly written article, “Philly has a gun problem. Straw buying makes it worse.” It provides a chilling description of a mechanism for illegal guns to get onto the streets of our city. I was particularly impressed that once law enforcement was made aware of the possible straw gun purchases, they were able to quickly apprehend and prosecute the offender with existing laws and technology. If the database scanning process described in the article were automated, it would provide an important tool to reduce the flow of illegal guns. This could be an important preemptive tool for police, given the high level of gun violence in our city. The article is important and timely, and an example of The Inquirer’s high-quality journalism. Thank you for your diligence.

Malcolm Davis, Philadelphia

What happened to street gangs? In the article “West Philly street group members charged with three shootings, including two homicides,” the term “street group” is used at least nine times to identify the associations of various murder suspects. Is “street gang” considered insulting to its members? Is The Inquirer trying to stay away from advertising this lifestyle? Is there a new political lobby group that has pressed for the sanitizing of the criminal street gang image? What is going on here? Every person identified in the article that is under arrest is identified as part of a street group. The identified street groups are not groups of musicians, artists, athletes, teachers, law enforcement officers, war veterans, journalists, etc., they are in a group identified by the District Attorney’s Office as participating in gun violence. These groups don’t hold fundraisers on weekends, or sponsor 5K runs to raise money for their endeavors. They are groups of young men who engage in criminal behavior, full stop. So please, in plain English, will you tell me why you sanitized the gang affiliations in this article? What editorial standard are you following? What social norm are you upholding? We have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous if we can’t identify murder suspects (with multiple previous arrests) as members of street gangs.

Geoff Deasey, Wynnewood

The Inquirer missed two opportunities to investigate the role of private equity in the health care (“Crozer’s landlord uses complicated financial maneuvers to mitigate a troubled investment”) and medical weight loss (“New York weight-loss-surgery provider has sued more than 300 patients”) spaces. Private equity can be, and often is, a financial wrecking ball, burdening viable portfolio companies with huge debt, an emphasis on efficiencies and profits at the expense of jobs and wages, and extracting wealth from communities and the companies it captures. The debacle involving Hahnemann University Hospital is a case in point in which The Inquirer, again, missed an opportunity to inform its readers of the dynamics that led to its closure, which affected thousands of Philadelphians. Reporting on private equity is hard and complex, but readers need to know.

Maron Fenico, Philadelphia

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