DRUG POLICIES HARSHER ON OUR POOR CITIZENS

Letters to the Editor News & Record

Tens of millions of middle-and upper-class households are declaring their
home mortgage interest as a deduction as they file their federal income
taxes. For a household in the 27.5 percent tax bracket, that means that
every $1,000 of declared interest saves that household $275 in federal
income taxes.

The interest deduction subsidizes the cost of buying a home and means that
families taking the interest deduction live in federally subsidized
housing. The Supreme Court recently ruled that an entire family could be
removed from federally subsidized public housing if a family member or
guest were involved in narcotics.

Why should middle- and upper-class neighborhoods be denied a similar
drug-cleansing policy? We probably can't exactly evict folks from their
federally subsidized homes, for they own them.

But maybe we should deny them the subsidy if a family member or guest were
involved in narcotics. Maybe without the subsidy the family will no longer
be able to afford its house and will be forced to sell and leave the
neighborhood.

Or maybe we should not have drug policies that are so seriously class-biased.

Lawrence B. Morse, Greensboro

The writer is an associate professor of economics at N.C. A&T State University.