Comment by rom-antics

On the other hand though, it brings symmetry to types and values, and makes destructuring feel natural.

  let i: i32 = 1;
  let &i: &i32 = &1;
  let &mut i: &mut i32 = &mut 1;
  let (i, &mut j): (i32, &mut i32) = (1, &mut 2);

I'm not sure how you'd recreate this symmetry without using the same symbol in both places.