<p><strong>To the editor:</strong></p>
<p>On April 27, there was an letter to the editor written by Dennis Davoren regarding congressman Trey Hollingsworth ("Hollingsworth’s self-characterization doesn’t resemble reality"). We would like to address three of his comments.</p>
<p>Mr. Davoren stated that Trey Hollingsworth could not have been doing the work of his constituents told him needed to be done, because there were no records of public meetings. However, there are other ways to communicate. One way to communicate with your constituents is to call them and ask. We can vouch that Trey Hollingsworth does indeed call his constituents and asks them what their concerns are. He has called us twice.</p>
<p>Mr. Davoren also complained about the explosion of the tax bill. Although this is a topic for dueling economists, we would like to point out another viewpoint made famous during the economic expansion years of the Reagan administration. The title of the article explains the idea. Dr. Art Laffer and Stephen Moore in their contribution stated that "The CBO Fails to Understand Economic Growth Lowers Debt," (The Hill, April 12, 2018). To further clarify this, CNBC on Dec. 13, 2012 stated "The Laffer Curve illustrates that somewhere between zero and 100 percent taxation, there is a tax rate that maximizes total revenue."</p>
<p>Lastly, Mr. Davoren also quotes the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which is a progressive group, according to its website. He mentioned the pass through of the recent Tax Cuts and Job Cuts Act of 2017. Most small businesses are organized as pass throughs. In other words, instead of a business paying taxes on its own income, the profit or loss is passed through the owner, who reports it as their income. With the Tax Cuts and Job Cuts Act of 2017, the owner’s tax rate decreased and theoretically, they should have more income, although the laws regarding pass throughs are very complex. The purpose was to encourage an entrepreneur to take the risk to use extra income to start or expand a business, which would lead to more economic growth and more jobs.</p>
<p>Obviously we do not know how Rep. Hollingsworth will spend any tax savings he might have from the complex, revised law. He could take the entrepreneurial risk, he could invest it or he could spend it. Any of these options could lead to other jobs. However, since Mr. Davoren did reference a progressive group, we wonder it the real agenda is to disparage capitalism. The media was reporting today (April 27), that (Hilary) Clinton is stating that she believes one of the reasons she lost the election was that she was too much of a believer in capitalism.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: right"><strong>Marsha and David Armenoff</strong></p>
<p><p style="text-align: right"><strong>Greenwood</strong></p>
