Letter: The Making of a Deficit

Thursday, January 10, 2013

To the Editor:

Do we really want to recognize our budget situation in the U.S.?

Look no further than the ironic Valley News front-page headlines on Jan. 1. One headline reported, “Cliff Aside, Most To Pay More Taxes.” Right next to it was an article headlined, “Breaking the Passenger Barrier; Lebanon Airport Gets Federal Funds.”

Apparently, you get “federal funds” (taxpayer money) simply by gaming the system, as reported in the article. All you have to do is offer $12 flights at the end of year to goose the numbers. The airport then hits its “federal need levels” for a $1 million jackpot payout versus a measly $150,000 federal grant.

The extra $850,000 in addition to the base $150,000 comes from all of the taxpayers of this country. Unfortunately, this logic is replicated all over the country with many federal projects, works and programs.

And you want to know why we are going over the “fiscal cliff”?

A.G. Battaglia

Hartford

‘Cliff’ Aside, Most To Pay More Taxes

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Washington — Americans face a broad hike in taxes today for the first time in at least two decades, ending a prolonged period of declining taxation that has become a defining characteristic of the American economy. Despite the emerging agreement to avoid much of the “fiscal cliff,” many Americans will see a higher tax bill this year because of the …

Carl Roebuck helps passengers board a Cape Air flight to White Plains, N.Y., yesterday at the Lebanon Municipal Airport in West Lebanon. Cape Air offered flights for as low as $12 to help the airport reach its 10,000-passenger goal for 2012, a milestone that will guarantee the airport a $1 million subsidy from the federal government to be used for facility improvements. (Valley News — Ryan Dorgan)

Lebanon Airport Passes Annual 10,000 Passenger Mark

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Lebanon — Yesterday, 21-year-old Jeff Moran boarded a plane in Boston, flew to Lebanon, sat around the municipal airport for a few hours, and flew back. Why? Because it cost him only $24. “I just saw the $12 (one-way) flight deal and then decided, eh, just fly to Lebanon, just out and back, just for the heck of it,” Moran …