In November, we get to determine the extent of Maine tax relief “spine strength” with the enactment of the tax cap. Presently, opponents are running scared, fostering fear of tax relief.

In his Sun Journal letter, Farmington Town Manager Richard Davis (Sept. 26), dealt diffidence to the tax cap; not offering one single alternative.

In her Op-Ed, critical of the tax cap, Lewiston High School student Katie Lauze offered a “white flag” to the status quo of high taxes. No alternative was advanced.

Gov. Baldacci and plural Maine politicians continue showing scarecrow spines while spreading dread about the tax cap. They were unable to offer an alternative during the legislative session.

Backbone strength supporting passage of the tax cap surrounds us. We pay the second highest tax burden in the nation. Our neighbors lose homes, unable to foot the tax bill. Maine legislators, who can’t rescue us from our tax reefs, are talking about taxing bottled water at Poland Spring. County and municipal governments can’t curb spending.

So far, the sole alternative to enactment of the tax cap is fear from those seeking to preserve the status quo.

I find strength in the wise, worldly words once spoken by a president, possessed of spine strength though confined to a wheel chair: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!”

John W. Benoit, Rangeley

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