Bottle Tax

The bottle tax is an example of why we need term limits — not because city officials were considering it but because it appears they will not pass it ("Bottle tax goes into the can," May 20). We need our elected officials to make tough decisions, but when they are worried about getting reelected, they are more apt to bow to public pressure induced by money and advertising. In this case, the money and advertising has been provided by the beverage industry. While a regressive tax, the bottle tax is not on staples but on items that could be considered luxury items.

Perhaps it comes from an excess of caffeine and corn syrup, but the beverage industry and its retail allies always seem to be fired up about one thing or another. The latest example is their crusade to repeal Baltimore's controversial bottle tax that was approved just last year and was instrumental in helping the city avoid a huge budget shortfall. Under legislation sponsored by Councilwoman Belinda K. Conaway, the 2-cent tax on beverage containers approved in 2010 would sunset in 2012 instead of 2013.

The Sun is correct in saying that the city's bottle tax increase is "no cause for great celebration" and that residents already "suffer disproportionately from poverty and high taxes" ("Beyond the bottle tax," June 13). Yet in the same breath you applaud the City Council's decision to pass the tax, saying it has the potential to transform our schools and city into a beacon of hope that will attract thousands of families. To the contrary, the current beverage tax has failed the city, fallen woefully short, cost good jobs and hurt local grocery stores.

In Baltimore, like in many other cities, it is simple to enumerate the challenges we face in trying to create a better future. It's also easy to get overwhelmed by these issues and to start doubting any possible solutions as not being comprehensive enough, as being imperfect, as being just drops in the bucket in terms of what our city needs. Many such objections have been raised against the bottle tax intended to rebuild our deteriorating city school buildings. Certainly this tax will not solve all of our school infrastructure problems.

Baltimore City Council members said Wednesday that they have devised a plan to cut the city's huge budget gap without implementing a controversial four-cent tax on bottled beverages. "We do believe we have a workable plan that spreads the responsibility to not just the residents, but the businesses, the nonprofts, the tourists … anyone that's going to have anything to do in and for and with Baltimore City," Councilwoman Helen Holton, who chairs the taxation and finance committee, said at a hastily organized news conference.

The Baltimore City Council has endorsed more than $43 million in new or higher taxes on items including income and telephone lines, largely adopting a wrenching budget-balancing plan laid out by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The council cast key votes Monday evening in favor of a tax package designed mitigate a $121 million projected shortfall and avoid extensive layoffs of police officers and firefighters. But with the next budget year about to start in about two weeks, a major issue is unresolved: the fate of the mayor's plan to impose a 4-cent tax on bottled beverages.

A key city councilman says he is leaning against supporting a new tax on bottled beverages slated for a vote Thursday, throwing the measure's prospects into doubt. Councilman Carl Stokes, seen as a swing vote on the controversial proposal, said late Wednesday that he does not agree with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's plans for the proceeds of the tax. He said the revenue should save more jobs than the 70 that Rawlings-Blake says it will preserve; the mayor wants to use the money to restore street-cleaning and sanitation programs, among other initiatives.

A City Council plan to plug a hole in Baltimore's budget gap without a contentious tax on bottled beverages hit a snag Thursday when finance officials said a key piece of the plan would bring in significantly less revenue than projected. An excise tax on video poker machines would generate about $2.2 million, rather than the nearly $5 million predicted by the measure's sponsor, Councilman Robert W. Curran, finance officials said at a hearing. The city's Finance Department counted only the machines currently registered, although Curran believes that many more machines are kept off the books.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposed increase to the city's tax on bottle beverages is expected to move forward Monday after being corked up for months by a City Council committee. Council members, led by Council Vice President Edward Reisinger, plan to resort to a rarely employed legislative maneuver to bypass the committee and hold a vote on the measure, which is the centerpiece of the mayor's school construction funding package. "There's nothing in the city that's more important than our young people," said Councilman Brandon Scott, who intends to vote for the tax. "I can't kick the can down the road for school construction like it's been done for my entire life.