The following account was written by my grandmother Rose Ridnor in July 1964. I wonder if her fury arose from a conversation, she had with her daughter, my mother, who was a Republican at the time.

Re: Your remark last Sunday that I’m not paying enough taxes, that my taxes are abnormally low.

As our tax rate must be separated by no more than a point or two, we must fit into the same tax category. Are you saying:

You too are not paying enough taxes?

That you would be willing to pay more so the rich may pay less?

That if the rich man is to pay $350,000 on a $700,000 income, it would be only right and equitable and in accord with democratic principle that you pay $3,500 tax on a $7,000 income?

That when a man is deprived of $350,000, having a mere $350,000 left as spendable income, he suffers the same privations and hardships as you will with $4,000 left of a $4,500 income?

Are you crying that the rich man cannot afford another Cadillac, penthouse or trip to Europe, and laughing because cutting corners is such fun, and worrying that next year should be no worse than this, is good for the soul?

If you are saying all this, are we speaking the same language, or has one of us gone stark, raving mad?

Thank you to Clem Onojeghuo for his photo on Unsplash