Cut Taxes

Annapolis property owners could see their city property tax rates fall by a nickel -- a penny more than a tax break proposed by the mayor -- under a revised budget plan to be presented to city council members today.Nevertheless, city residents still may end up breaking even or paying higher property taxes next year because of the county budget being proposed today by Executive John G. Gary."We've been very prudent and frugal and we think we can cut taxes even more than what the mayor suggested," said Alderman Carl O. Snowden, who drafted the tax cut as chairman of the Finance Committee.

As early voting got underway Thursday in the primary race for governor, the four Republicans competing for the GOP nomination jockeyed to present themselves as the most qualified to take on a Democrat in November. The candidates taped a final televised forum in a Washington studio and, as they have in the past, largely agreed that tax cuts are in order after eight years under Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley. But the normally genial discussion among the Republicans was punctuated by each candidate trying to reinforce his credentials as the conservative most likely to succeed in a state where Democrats hold a 2-1 registration advantage.

WITH Congress returning next week to forecasts of a $660 billion budget surplus in the next decade, Republican and Democratic lawmakers are talking tax cuts.House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, a Texas Republican, wants to reduce the combined federal tax burden on individuals and businesses from 19.9 percent of the gross domestic product to 19 percent of GDP -- cuts that would cost $200 billion in lower revenue over a decade.House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat, plans to introduce a tax restructuring plan that would have most people paying a 10 percent rate.

Property taxes for Baltimore homeowners will drop again under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's plan to gradually lower the city's rate to bring it more in line with the rest of the state. The city's spending panel agreed Wednesday to lower the rate to $2.13 per $100 of assessed value — still double the levy of surrounding counties, but down 14 cents in the past two years. The reduction is part of the mayor's plan to knock 20 cents off the tax for homeowners by 2020. The tax break, approved without discussion by the Board of Estimates, will lower the property tax bill for an average home by $174.

President Clinton's economic package passed by the House of Representatives Thursday night relies too much on tax increases and not enough on budget cuts, Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest told a West County business association Friday.The Republican, who represents the Eastern Shore and part of Anne Arundel, explained why he voted against the proposed five-year economic blueprint and the $16.3 billion stimulus package.He said he supported an alternative plan backed by 18 other congressmen -- 17 of them Republican -- that offered a detailed list of cuts totaling $637 billion over five years, about $265 billion more than what the president proposed.

Ellen R. Sauerbrey sees herself as the next Christine Todd Whitman, the New Jersey Republican who won an underdog race for governor by promising to cut taxes.Mrs. Sauerbrey could be right. But if she wants to win votes,Maryland's GOP nominee likely will have to explain how her tax cuts would affect government services.As Ms. Whitman did a year ago, when she beat incumbent Democrat James J. Florio, Mrs. Sauerbrey has made tax relief the centerpiece of her campaign for governor against Democrat Parris N. Glendening.

LET'S GET one thing clear: Gov. Parris N. Glendening, like any good politician, would love to cut taxes. It would blunt a Republican challenge in 1998 and improve the governor's popularity.But wishing and doing are two different things. In his 19 months as governor, Mr. Glendening has adopted a cautious, conservative approach on budget and tax matters. He's not about to embark on a feel-good tax cut plan that could cripple the state's balance sheet,In June, Mr. Glendening repeated his concern that Maryland's slow-growth economy makes a tax cut unlikely.

IN AN ELECTION year, politicians will go to extremes to cater to the voting public. Especially on taxes. They try to cut taxes sharply just before voters go to the polls. This rush to look good at election time has now hit the State House in Annapolis.Gov. Parris N. Glendening and Senate leaders want to accelerate a five-year income-tax cut approved last year. The cost: an extra $80 million this year and a total of $320 million over five years. Their rationale is that Maryland's tax revenues are flowing in much faster than expected.

PROJECTIONS of federal budget surpluses continue to grow and so does the inexorable urge among politicians to cut taxes.Even though the surpluses have yet to materialize, Republicans are calling for as much as $1 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, an imprudent strategy.Recently, the normally cautious Congressional Budget Office knuckled under to GOP pressure and raised its projected federal surplus in the coming decade to $1.55 trillion from $671 billion. After decades of staggering deficits, this reversal is most welcome.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is suggesting that Congress act rapidly on short-term tax relief early next year and then develop a second package of measures to deal with long-term economic problems.The two-step approach was outlined yesterday by Budget Director Richard G. Darman during testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on tax bills to revive the sluggish recovery and lower taxes for middle-income Americans.After meeting with President Bush, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan.

Living near Baltimore County's Eastern Sanitary Landfill is no doubt unpleasant. The facility is huge - 375 acres - and handles about a quarter of Baltimore County's solid waste, or almost 75,000 tons of trash a year. Residents of the neighborhoods adjacent to it complain of unpredictable odors that substantially diminish their enjoyment of their property. But a proposal pending in the General Assembly to allow for property tax breaks for the affected communities is the wrong approach.

If you needed proof of the political class' abiding support of the ruling class over the working class, look no further than the purportedly left-leaning blue state of Maryland, with a Democratic-dominated legislature throwing millions of dollars at the heirs of millionaires while hesitating about raising the wages of some of the poorest people in the state. With relative haste and limited debate, the state Senate, led by the well-to-do attorney and grandfather who serves as its president, voted 36-10 last week to raise the exemption on the Maryland estate tax, essentially creating a windfall for some of the wealthiest people in one of the wealthiest states in a country with an ever-widening wealth gap. If Gov. Martin O'Malley signs it into law, the measure would raise the amount of an estate exempt from Maryland's tax from $1 million to nearly $6 million.

When Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake prepared her first city budget in 2010, she had to find a way to resolve a projected $190 deficit. In 2011, she faced another shortfall, this time $65 million. In 2012, the projected deficit was $48 million. Last year, it was $30 million. But now, for the first time since she took office, Mayor Rawlings-Blake is proposing a spending plan that includes no cuts to city services. Instead, it offers city workers a 2 percent raise - a far cry from the furloughs they experienced not long ago - and includes modest investments in a handful of priorities while continuing a long-term plan to cut property tax rates for homeowners.

The last mayoral election in Baltimore featured a spirited debate about a variety of ideas for aggressive reductions in the city's sky-high property tax rate. The winning candidate, though, was the one who called those ideas unrealistic and advocated a gradualist approach that left the basic structure of the city's property tax system intact. To her credit, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has followed through and proposed a comprehensive 10-year financial plan to reduce costs, diversify revenue streams and cut property taxes.

With frustration building over Washington's refusal to behave in the public interest, perhaps it's worth noting a drastic solution tried by the Irish. Last Friday, Irish voters cast ballots on a referendum to abolish the country's Upper House, known as the Seanad. Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Ireland didn't need all of its politicians and they should be made to suffer along with everyone else as the country continues to struggle economically. The measure to abolish the Seanad lost by just 42,500 votes out of more than 1,226,000 cast (51.8 percent to 48.2 percent)

Baltimore has underbilled a downtown office tower owned by Orioles majority owner Peter G. Angelos by $390,000 in property taxes since 2011, government officials say - the most recent example of mistakes emerging from the city's Finance Department. Kevin Harris, a spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, called the billing on One Charles Center an isolated error. But a sampling of tax records shows that the city has also undercharged the owners of two other commercial properties by more than $300,000 in the past four years because of similar errors.

Howard County residents would likely see lower taxes under legislation County Council Chairman Guy Guzzone said he will introduce by mid-April, though he provided no details. Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat, revealed his intentions yesterday to seek targeted and broad tax relief at the county's legislative session in Annapolis, where a bill offering property tax breaks to seniors was defeated. County Executive James N. Robey said he, too, wants to cut taxes if the county budget will allow it. Robey, a Democrat, is to present his budget proposal in April for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Robey also made the trip to Annapolis, where 10 of the 11 legislators backed his bill that would allow the creation of a county revenue authority.

In Annapolis, the nearly $1 billion budget surplus has spurred calls by some state lawmakers for income tax cuts. But in Baltimore County, with a $148.4 million surplus, no such cries are being heard. The reason is simple. Most county leaders believe that, at least for now, extra money should be plowed into school improvements and projects they say were neglected during leaner times. "My philosophy is to take this surplus and put the money back into the schools and infrastructure. This is an investment in the future," said Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger.

I generally avoid trite devices like multiple-choice questions to frame a column. But I can't help myself this time, so please bear with me. Congressional Republicans rejected President Barack Obama's proposal last week to exchange a cut in corporate tax rates for an infrastructure-based jobs stimulus plan for which of the following reasons: (a) They know U.S. corporate tax rates aren't nearly as punitive for corporate America as they claim them to be; (b) They realize the 2009 stimulus worked and don't want to risk doing anything that might further improve the economy between now and the 2014 midterm elections; (c)

Baltimore's spending board voted Wednesday to approve another property tax break for city homeowners, part of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's plan to cut property taxes by 22 percent over 10 years. The tax credit approved by the Board of Estimates would knock $140 off the median property tax bill on owner-occupied homes. That is on top of the $40 cut that came when the panel created the credit last year. The numbers are based on the taxes that would be due on a property assessed at $200,000.