Almaden Resident reports in the Jan. 20 edition that Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata are all asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to bring more federal funds to help balance the state budget. They lament that California only receives 77 percent of federal funding and employment programs, but I thought Democrats generally believe the rich should pay higher taxes than the poor. so why should they complain that relatively wealthy California pays more to help less fortunate states?

Maybe Lofgren and company would prefer a 100-percent return of our tax money, but if that is true, then why not just eliminate federal funding and employment programs all together? If we did that, we could eliminate the middleman, i.e. the IRS, and have more money for programs that we Californians control, thereby getting more bang for our tax dollars.

Jerry Mungai

Fall River Drive