Energy Tax

A proposed energy tax on industrial buildings in the city has rankled area manufacturers and sparked the latest budget battle in City Hall. Supporters of the levy, which could be voted on today, defend the plan and say it spreads the burden of solving the city's budget woes to more than one industry. Some backers say it could eliminate the need for a controversial bottle tax. The issue illustrates the dilemma of closing a $121 million shortfall in the $2.2 billion budget during one of the worst economic times in the city's history, when no group wants to see its taxes increased.

While politicians spar in Washington over how to keep the nation from going over a "fiscal cliff," environmental activists warn that the wind-energy industry faces its own cliff if Congress doesn't act soon to extend a federal tax break for turbine construction, which expires at the end of the year. The latest alarm comes from Environment Maryland , which held a press conference on Baltimore's Federal Hill Wednesday to tout the environmental benefits of wind farms, including healthier air, water conservation and reduced emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants.

While politicians spar in Washington over how to keep the nation from going over a "fiscal cliff," environmental activists warn that the wind-energy industry faces its own cliff if Congress doesn't act soon to extend a federal tax break for turbine construction, which expires at the end of the year. The latest alarm comes from Environment Maryland , which held a press conference on Baltimore's Federal Hill Wednesday to tout the environmental benefits of wind farms, including healthier air, water conservation and reduced emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants.

A proposed energy tax on industrial buildings in the city has rankled area manufacturers and sparked the latest budget battle in City Hall. Supporters of the levy, which could be voted on today, defend the plan and say it spreads the burden of solving the city's budget woes to more than one industry. Some backers say it could eliminate the need for a controversial bottle tax. The issue illustrates the dilemma of closing a $121 million shortfall in the $2.2 billion budget during one of the worst economic times in the city's history, when no group wants to see its taxes increased.

Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen is too savvy in the ways of Washington to loft a big balloon without some assurance he has President Clinton's support. So when he says a broad-based energy tax would raise revenues, help the environment and reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil from unstable regions, he is softening up citizens for the undefined "sacrifice" Mr. Clinton mentioned in his inaugural address.If more taxes must come, this will do as good as most. If it finds favor, it could eventually lead the way to more general taxes on consumption -- sales or value-added or higher levies on spent income -- that would reduce the Treasury's reliance on regular income taxes as its principal source of revenue.

WASHINGTON -- Giving up its effort to win a broad energy tax, the Clinton administration conceded yesterday that only a gasoline tax is likely to survive the House-Senate conference committee that is fashioning a final version of President Clinton's economic plan."

WASHINGTON -- When two Baltimore-area corporations complained to Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin that President Clinton's proposed energy tax would give their foreign competitors an unfair advantage, he went to bat for them.Mr. Cardin has been lobbying his colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee to help Bethlehem Steel Corp., Crown Central Petroleum Corp. and other companies compete with imports. Mr. Cardin has offered an amendment to "level the playing field" by imposing on all imported "energy-intensive primary products" a fee equal to the energy tax imposed on similar products manufactured in the United States.

Washington. -- The Dean of St. Paul's knew how to lodge a credible tax protest. When in 1294 Edward I summoned the clergy to his presence and demanded half their revenue, the good dean dropped dead on the spot.As the taxaholic Clinton administration struggles to govern this taxaphobic nation, it is provoking protests not quite as stirring as the dean's, but which should be heeded. Consider the proposed energy tax, beginning with the aluminum industry, as reported by Paul Klebnikov in Forbes.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration is considering a broad-based energy tax to reduce the federal deficit and to conserve energy uses, according to Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen.Mr. Bentsen also said yesterday that, despite his past support for a gasoline tax, the new administration has not yet decided on that option."When you do a gasoline tax, you also end up with some inequities insofar as different regions of the country," he said, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."Many believe that the economy would benefit from so-called consumption taxes that make it costly for the nation to consume more than it produces, he said.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, under pressure from powerful interest groups, said yesterday that it has restructured its proposed energy tax to reduce the impact on selected industries and shift the burden more directly to consumers.In its first detailed discussion of the controversial energy tax, the administration disclosed that it has granted exemptions to a wide array of industries that have lobbied furiously for special treatment.And, after initially saying that the tax -- one of the biggest revenue-raisers in the president's long-term economic package -- would be levied as close to the source of energy production as possible, the administration said yesterday that it would seek to impose the tax closer to consumers instead.

The editorial "Bottle tax scare" (April 29) suggests that the only reason there is significant opposition to the bottle tax is because corporations have somehow manipulated citizens by making them aware that the City Council is considering the tax. But the real problem is that there isn't more outrage about all the other taxes that are being raised. The fact is that the City Council is considering nine pieces of legislation that increase our already astronomical city taxes. There are bills to increase the income tax, energy tax, parking tax and fees for parking violations, among other things.

The plan Baltimore Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake unveiled today to raise $50 million in new revenue to reverse some of the cuts that would otherwise be necessary in next year's city budget is, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, the worst possible option, except for all of the others. Her proposal would require more of everyone in the city — residents, businesses, nonprofits, not to mention commuters and visitors — in ways large and small. What she's asking the City Council to do is to place an additional burden on people during a recession, something she shouldn't even be considering except for the fact that the alternative, massive cuts to the police and fire departments, layoffs of hundreds of employees, and major reductions to civic services, would clearly set Baltimore's progress back much further.

Maryland is moving to require utility companies to accelerate their use of solar power - an idea rankling some lawmakers who are concerned that an impractical quota would needlessly raise the price consumers pay for electricity. A plan working through the General Assembly would push energy suppliers such as Baltimore Gas and Electric to rely on a higher percentage of solar power in the next few years than mandated by current law. The bill was approved Friday by the Senate and is moving through the House of Delegates.

A day after state regulators approved a 50 percent increase in electricity rates for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers, two Baltimore mayoral candidates and a handful of other city leaders began tossing out ideas for easing the blow. From repealing the city's three-year-old energy tax to studying the creation of a publicly owned electricity utility, a bevy of proposals began making its way toward the City Council as local officials struggled with an issue that they have almost no control over but that could affect their fate in this year's election.

A bill that would give Howard County residents a property tax credit for installation of solar or geothermal energy-saving equipment is to be introduced at Tuesday night's County Council meeting. Councilman Guy Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat, is sponsoring the measure, which would limit the credits to $5,000 per house and $250,000 a year in the county overall, according to the legislation. The credit could not exceed the total property tax bill for a residence. Guzzone, who is running for House of Delegates, has vowed to introduce statewide credit legislation, if elected.

Six City Council members said yesterday that they support reducing or eliminating a city tax on energy that would otherwise increase this year as Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers face massive rate increases. In what is fast becoming the most contentious debate surrounding Baltimore's proposed $2.38 billion budget, supporters of the tax cut say it would give energy consumers a needed break while others, including Mayor Martin O'Malley, warn that the energy tax may someday be a crucial source of revenue.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's new energy tax -- a compendium of levies on the heat content of oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear power and hydroelectricity -- would barely be noticed at first.Four years from now, it could cost the average American family between $8 and $12 a month; or considerably less if the government's attempt to change the nation's energy habits pays off.Based on current energy use, a Maryland family with one car could expect to pay between $96 and $118 a year more for gasoline and utilities by July 1996, when the tax is fully implemented, based on figures provided by Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and the Federal Highway Administration and the Energy Department.

OWINGS -- J. Allen Swann uses a lot of energy.First, there's the cost of the propane to heat the greenhouse at the farm in northern Calvert County where Mr. Swann and his nephew, Jody, 26, are growing 56,000 tobacco plants.Under the Clinton administration's energy tax proposal, Mr. Swann would pay an extra 2.3 cents on each of the 2,000 gallons of propane he uses annually. That's $46 in additional taxes.Then there's the tractor that eats seven gallons of diesel fuel an hour while working the corn crop.

FORGET FOR a minute the higher taxes that will be paid to consume energy, use cell phones and buy property in Baltimore. They were coming. This year's budget go-round produced the kind of lively debate, number-crunching and directed action from the City Council that has been sadly lacking in years past. That's the kind of check on city spending taxpayers should expect, especially in a city where the mayor holds such sway. Council members engaged in a constructive way to review Mayor Martin O'Malley's proposed $2.1 billion budget.

From the ivory towers of academia to gritty Curtis Bay, the worries were the same yesterday, whether the worriers produce Ph.D.s or chemicals for gasoline, toothpaste and beer. One day after the City Council passed $30 million in new taxes, Baltimore's nonprofits and manufacturers were trying to figure out how they will pay their higher tax bills. The Johns Hopkins Institutions expects to pay about $2.1 million a year to the city for energy and phone levies. The 2 percent energy tax will cost W.R. Grace & Co. $400,000 a year at its Curtis Bay plant.