We need this measure to encourage business investment
The Dec. 8 editorial ("Taxing Issue: The Right Cut at the Wrong Time") got it half right. House Bill 515 does in fact identify the right first priorities for improving our business tax competitiveness. But it's not the wrong time for the governor to endorse these cuts -- it is never a bad time to make Pennsylvania a more competitive place to do business.

The governor makes hard choices every day as to how to spend revenue from Pennsylvania taxpayers. With HB 515, he has a golden opportunity to send a strong message that Pennsylvania businesses should have a fair playing field with other states, encouraging businesses to invest in Pennsylvania jobs and facilities.

The state can afford these changes. Revenue collections from corporate taxes in the last five months alone are above budget by more than the first year's cost of this bill. And the bill does not take effect until January 2007.

Finally, the editorial said the cuts should be done as part of the soon-to-begin budget process. Well, we have tried that route, and it did not prove successful. In fact, the strong CompetePA Coalition arose out of the frustration that occurred during the 2005 budget process, when business tax competitiveness was not part of the debate. The coalition worked to get business tax improvements past the House and Senate with bipartisan support and to the governor's desk to be signed.

This was not a political ploy, but in fact has been a proactive effort receiving overwhelming support from tens of thousands of organizations and businesses across Pennsylvania -- small and large businesses, manufacturing and biotech -- all yearning for progress in Pennsylvania so we can grow and prosper.

F. MICHAEL LANGLEY
Chief Executive Officer
Allegheny Conference on Community Development
Downtown

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No more waiting

Pennsylvania's job creators have been waiting for three years for the governor to pay more than lip service to being pro-business -- waiting for the governor to prove that he wants a business-friendly environment for the commonwealth. A Post-Gazette editorial ("Taxing Issue: The Right Cut at the Wrong Time," Dec. 8) suggests he be allowed to wait to do so until the upcoming budget cycle.

As we wait, Pennsylvania continues to lose ground to our competitor states.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from October 2004 to October 2005, Pennsylvania's change in employment was tied for 34th and still below the national average. And according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, from 2003 to 2004, Pennsylvania was 44th in gross state product growth, signaling a steady downward trend from 2001, when the state ranked 16th. From 2003 to 2004, Pennsylvania was 32nd in personal income growth, down from 26th in 2002.

And according to the chamber's own 2005 Economic Survey, only 18 percent of job creators view Pennsylvania as business friendly -- a considerable drop from 41 percent in 2001. Perhaps most alarming, the survey indicated that 40 percent of businesses said they would leave the state if they could -- up from a mere 16 percent in 2001.

If there ever was a right time to change the well-substantiated perception that Pennsylvania is unfriendly to business and take steps to create a stronger, more competitive business climate that invites opportunities for job creation, it is now.

House Bill 515 is not an unrealistic tax cut bill. It represents a small, albeit important, step forward. More importantly, there is money available now to enact these modest reductions this fiscal year. Corporate revenue collections exceed estimates by $65 million year-to-date and will more than cover the cost of HB 515 in year one, fulfilling the governor's "pay as you go" requirement.

JIM WELTY
Vice President
Legislative and Corporate Affairs
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
Harrisburg

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Cartoon a new low

How low can you go? The Dec. 10 holiday torture songs cartoon was a new low even for you. Have you no shame? Have you no sense of journalism left? Is it politics all the time?

Perhaps the editors did not read the obituary in their own paper earlier in the week titled "Bore Witness to Nazi Torture of Homosexuals"; I suggest they read it. Perhaps they have not heard of the horrors Saddam Hussein inflicted on his own people. Have you ever read about the unspeakable things the Japanese did to their prisoners?

Don't you have any responsibility for some semblance of balanced reporting? Your hatred of the Bush administration and Republicans is disgraceful. The PG has crossed the line to where it now sounds like just another zealot, while bordering on unpatriotic.

DAVE ROSS
Bethel Park

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This isn't 'good'

I am thoroughly disgusted about right-wing pundits and spinsters complaining that nobody is reporting the "good news" out of Iraq.

On Feb. 7, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld said of the Iraq conflict, "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

On March 16, 2003, Dick Cheney said, "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. ... I think it will go relatively quickly ... [in] weeks rather than months."

Now, nearly three years and more than 2,000 dead American soldiers later, George W. Bush says it would be inappropriate to discuss a timeline for withdrawal.

Excuse me. Where is the "good news"?

KEN REAM
Baldwin Township

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Pedestrians only

A step in the right direction has been taken by approving the conversion of the Lazarus building into shops, offices and condos ("URA Approves Lazarus Deal," Dec. 9). A second step might be to block off Fifth Avenue from Smithfield Street to Liberty Avenue.

No cars, no trucks, no buses or bus lanes -- just people shopping. It would certainly be another signal to developers that the city is serious about a Fifth Avenue shopping corridor.

J. MALCOLM
Baldwin Borough

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Move quickly

Development of the old Lazarus site is welcome news and overdue ("URA Approves Lazarus Deal," Dec. 9; "$49 Million Lazarus Redevelopment May Have Upscale Grocery, 'Unique' Shops," Dec. 13). I wasn't thrilled with the original concept, but after seeing the design, I see the potential possibilities as a hub for an urban residential development.

While this is a positive step, it is critical that the new mayor and our county executive work quickly to build on this momentum and to ensure that no further setbacks occur. With the sale of Kaufmann's to Macy's, Pittsburgh could find itself back at square one or one step behind.

MICHAEL EVERHART
Observatory Hill

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Boys, join in

Hooray for the girls who have taken a stand against Abercrombie & Fitch for its raunchy clothing (" 'Girlcott' Organizers Meet With Abercrombie Executives," Dec. 6).

It's time we parents and grandparents join the crusade and refuse to patronize any store that peddles such tasteless merchandise. This is humor?

And isn't it time for boys to become "empowered"? As the girls have confronted the clothing industry, let's see the boys tackle the entertainment business. Certainly men are shown by the media in a most unflattering light -- either too stupid to be out without a keeper or as bullies unable to cope without a gun or switchblade.

HELEN D. BETZLER
Mt. Lebanon

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Pittsburghers, support your local brewer

The overall declining trend of local support may be just one of the many reasons Pittsburgh Brewing Co. has been forced into bankruptcy ("Beermaker in Bankruptcy," Dec. 8). However, it would be entirely unfair to blame any one single misdeed on the brewery's financial difficulties.

It would be easy, but very unrealistic, to declare that Pittsburgh Brewing Co.'s many survivals (since 1861) solely came from new ownerships and/or certain financial contributions. Support of locally operated businesses is what drives, and will continue to drive, the Pittsburgh area to prosper as a functioning community.

Unfortunately, many consumers in the area haven't yet comprehended this vital fact. The city needs, and should want, the brewery to survive for another 144 years. Please try to understand where your money is actually going when you are "sold" by some of the many immense national competitors of Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Save the brewery, save our city. Buy local, prosper local. About 200 local jobs depend on our loyal patronage.

TODD J. ORLUSKE
Etna