This letter is in response to the letter, "Big teacher tax cut unfair to rest of us," (April 28). This assertion is easily refuted by the facts: namely, Connecticut public school teachers are not allowed to pay into the Social Security system. Instead, they are required to pay into the State Teachers' Retirement Fund. This fund is in effect their equivalent of Social Security. The state has taxed teachers on 100 percent of their benefits. However, according to the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, the state taxes Social Security recipients on a maximum of 50 percent of benefits.

The legislature overwhelmingly passed the Tax Exemption Law in 2014 because they realized the gross unfairness in the taxation of retired teachers. They also realized that this unfairness has motivated over 25 percent of retiring teachers, according to the Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut, to re-locate to states where their benefits are not taxed at all.

The 10 percent tax exemption called for in 2015 and the 25 percent called for in 2016 still leaves teachers paying a disproportionate amount of tax. So, in fact, teachers have not received a "big tax cut." And the only unfairness lies in the fact that retired teachers still pay more state tax than other state residents who receive Social Security.

B. A. Russ

North Stonington