Cut state salaries across the board

Gov. Ed Rendell wants to raise our income tax for the next three years to 3.57 percent ("Rendell: Raise Income Tax," June 17). Add that to the 1 percent wage tax to pay for schools, including teachers' salaries, and we are nearing a 5 percent income tax for Pennsylvanians.

Here's a better idea. Cut the salaries of all Pennsylvania government workers by 10 percent for the next three years. By cutting across the board from the $20-an-hour toll taker on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the $70,000-a-year schoolteacher, we should be able to balance the budget.

If not, then let's follow the example of Chrysler and General Motors and enter into a government-sponsored bankruptcy and cut all government spending by 10 percent. If it's good enough for the car dealers, it should be good enough for Pennsylvania politicians.

TONY PITTORE
Harrison City