‘N.Y. Doctors Could See $50,000 Fee’

The $50,000 “surcharge” proposed by a state task force as a “solution” to New York’s medical malpractice insurance crisis should not be imposed on doctors, but on lawyers [New York, “N.Y. Doctors Could See $50,000 Fee,” December 26, 2007]. Here is a true solution, for such a surcharge (and make it payable annually) would not only provide the funds needed in the short term, but also for once get at the “root cause” — the feeding frenzy of malpractice attorneys.

Far better than any tort reform legislation, which lawyers have a way of getting around, such a fee would succeed in dramatically cutting down these cases.

Suddenly, you can be sure, there would be task forces galore within the legal profession on how to bring to an end frivolous malpractice lawsuits.

So it’s a great idea in principle, if Governor Spitzer’s task force would only make the rational switch of changing those who pay.

RAEL ISAAC
Irvington, N.Y.

‘Taxes of the Times, II’

Bravo for pointing out that “tax increases are the solution of first resort to nearly every policy challenge” to those on the left of the political spectrum [Editorial, “Taxes of the Times, II,” December 27, 2007].

However, you were writing of politics at the national level. Local and state politicians on the political right also often choose this solution of first resort.

This is why state and local tax burdens have never been higher, even though most localities and states are less driven by leftist politics than the national government.

Until people start directly contacting local and state officials to demand spending control and no more tax hikes, taxes will go up regardless of the ideological leanings of local and state officials.

STEVE STANEK
McHenry, Ill.