To the editor:

In my humble opinion, the current issue surrounding the income based elderly tax exemption has turned into a tornado in a tea cup. There's a much simpler way to determine an equitable solution using data the town already has: property taxes.

Since most of us buy as much house as we can afford and we're taxed based on the value of that property, it's a pretty good bet that those who pay a lot of taxes probably have a lot and those who have a little probably pay less.

Statistically, if the values of properties and their concurrent property taxes were graphed, the town could probably solve 98 percent of the equation they are trying to solve by asking for personal income tax returns … and with a lot less angst caused by asking for more and more personal information. Privacy, or the continual erosion of it, is a serious and legitimate concern.

Susan L. Taylor

Barrington