Exemptions

Pentagon officials say they will return to Capitol Hill this year to seek legislation exempting the military from key environmental laws. The military will renew arguments that laws protecting the air, endangered species and public health are hurting its ability to train troops for combat. Last year, a skeptical Congress rejected all but one of the nine proposed exemptions. But with Republicans in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House, the Pentagon is expected to have an easier time making its case.

Like most people, I was originally horrified by the reported targeting of tea party groups ("IRS head forced to go," May 16). I am now less horrified. It is reported that various tea party groups were requesting tax exempt status as a "social welfare" group. We now need to know the definition of a "social welfare" group. Entities operating under the umbrella of the tea party would not appear to qualify. Of course, this tempest in a tea pot does highlight some interesting issues. Do we wish to expand the number of entities claiming tax exempt status or should we limit the number of groups not paying taxes?

It would be "ludicrous" for the Howard County Council to remove exemptions from a recently enacted smoking ban, tobacco lobbyist Bruce Bereano said last night.The smoking ban takes effect July 1, 1996, allowing time for the General Assembly to enact a state-wide smoking ban. It provides exemptions for restaurant bars that are self-enclosed and have separate ventilation systems, overnight trucks stops and retail tobacco stores.Mr. Bereano told the council at last night's public hearing on a bill to remove the exemptions that he did not want to appear arrogant, but that "at no time will the state legislature ban smoking in bars and taverns."

The Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training's Baltimore complex is full of neatly made beds and shining-clean floors, a military-like environment for homeless former service members working to get their lives back on track. Its executive director, a retired Navy lieutenant, would love to expand the nonprofit so he can take in families — children as well as their veteran parent. But as David T. Clements works to pin down new funding for that effort, he's worried about the money he's already got. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently warned the center to expect a cut in grant funding of more than 3.5 percent, which Clements said would hit late next year.

The Carroll commissioners granted for the first time yesterday financial hardship exemptions to the county's yearlong growth freeze, one for a 14-home subdivision near Finksburg and one for a six-home subdivision in Woodbine. Deborah Cooper, owner of the property near Finksburg, told the commissioners she would be unable to pay her grandmother's medical bills without the money she would earn from subdividing 26 acres of her family's farm. Fred Kent, owner of the Woodbine property, said he and his wife would face imminent financial ruin if not allowed to subdivide their 35-acre farm.

The most common problems that slow down the processing of Maryland tax returns, according to the state comptroller's office, are:Rounding, Decimal Points and Commas: All dollar figures should be rounded to the nearest dollar. (50 cents and above to the next higher dollar, 49 cents and below to the next lower.) They should be in blue or black ink without decimal points, commas or dollar signs.Standard Deduction: Maryland's standard deduction is 15 percent of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income, subject to minimum and maximum amounts.

I make $145,000 a year and my spouse does not work. We have three children and a sizable mortgage. We're receiving a combined federal and state tax refund of about $12,000 for 2000. I'm not thrilled about making no-interest loans of that size to the government. I'd really like to reduce my withholding, but I've repeatedly been told - always in ominous tones - that going above 10 exemptions means "you have to tell the IRS." I've reached the point where my response is, "So what?" At more than 10 exemptions, do we become prime targets for an audit?

A legislative committee is asking the Schaefer administration to make several minor changes in proposed regulations that would virtually ban indoor smoking in Maryland except in private homes.The proposed new rules -- which could take effect as early as next month -- would ban smoking in almost all indoor workplaces. While the Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee does not have authority to force changes in the proposal, members asked the occupational safety and health agency yesterday to exempt hotel rooms, vehicles used for work and offices in private homes.

ANNAPOLIS -- A classic legislative turf battle brought stockbrokers, insurance agents and certified public accountants to a Senate committee yesterday to argue for regulation of "the other guy."The fight pitted the three groups not only against one another as each asked to be exempted from state securities regulation, but also against independent financial planners, who called for "a level playing field" -- meaning regulation of everybody.Under existing law, anyone who is an investment adviser must be regulated by the Maryland Securities Division and make certain disclosures to the state.

The Maryland Anatomy Board has won two exemptions from the state's 6-week-old hiring freeze, allowing it to hire an embalmer and ending a 3-week-old crisis that had forced the cremation of two dozen corpses donated for medical training."

Loyal readers of this page are likely aware that we have not been great supporters of the tea party movement. Too often, we have found those anti-tax crusaders who call themselves tea party patriots are simply rebranded John Birch Society members of an earlier time with all the extremist anti-civil rights, anti-immigration, and anti-United Nations rhetoric that comes with it. But the latest disclosure - gleaned from a draft inspector general's report...

Does it not rain in every part of the state of Maryland? Of course, it does ("Craig signs scaled down Harford 'rain tax' bill into law," May 3). That fact makes me wonder why only the 10 most populous jurisdictions are required to pay the so-called "rain tax. " The runoff in the western-most counties eventually flows into the Potomac River, which then empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The counties on the Eastern Shore are currently exempt from this...

The most common complaint from people who email me about my columns is that the federal government is horrible: Too big and growing too fast, too corrupt and wasteful, and providing too many benefits to too many Americans. If we just shrink the government, they claim, the economy will boom. Unfortunately, readers often apply these critiques to governmental spending so insignificant as to barely matter. Grants to ACORN or for the so-called "Obama phone" program are so minuscule they're laughable, no matter how incessantly the conservative media echo chamber reports and re-reports on these so-called "scandals.

Local government is truly where the rubber meets the road. As Baltimore County executive, I proudly oversaw capital projects ranging from the restoration of the Randallstown Library after a fire to the expansion of Cromwell Valley Park. We rebuilt Essex Elementary School and constructed a new interchange at I-795 and Dolfield Road in Owings Mills. We were able to pay for these and dozens of other projects - which improved the everyday lives of thousands of people - with the help of tax-exempt municipal bonds.

Given the lack of interest in Congress in protecting children from guns, it was nice to hear a grown-up in Washington speak on behalf of kids, any kids - in this case, the nearly 40,000 kids who live with same-sex parents in California. "They want their parents to have full recognition and full status," Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said during Tuesday's hearing on Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California. "The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?"

A proposal to levy storm-water fees on many state-owned properties has cleared the House, setting the stage for shrinking a loophole in the year-old law that requires private landowners pay to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Delegates voted unanimously for HB508 , which partially removes an exemption for state lands in the law enacted last year mandating that Baltimore city and Maryland's nine largest counties levy a storm-water cleanup fee...

A three-year battle over a College Park restaurant property tax bill ended with an appeals court ruling last week that experts say may have enlarged a tax loophole that would cost state and county governments thousands of dollars in lost revenues.The Court of Special Appeals ruled that the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant, on the grounds of the College Park Airport, qualifies as a concession on government-owned land and that its landlord, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is excused from paying its $30,000 real estate tax bill.

The Maryland General Assembly moved closer to passage of a statewide ban on smoking in most public indoor places yesterday, though legislators are still at odds over how to craft exemptions from the law for certain establishments. The House of Delegates and Senate decided to move separate bills to final votes tomorrow and Monday, respectively. Legislative leaders say the bills have the votes to pass in both chambers, so the next step would be a potentially contentious conference during which differences between the two versions must be ironed out if the measure is to become law. A principal sticking point is a Senate exemption for private clubs that's not included in the House legislation.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and gun-control advocates launched an offensive Thursday to protect his proposed ban on assault-type weapons from a House committee's efforts to scale it back. "Military-style assault weapons belong on the battlefield, NOT on the streets of our cities and towns," said an email O'Malley's political action committee sent to gun-control supporters, urging them to lobby against efforts to exempt some guns used in recent mass shootings. "We need you to ACT NOW. " Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, flanked by police chiefs and state's attorneys, held a news conference Thursday morning calling for lawmakers to pass the "common-sense, balanced approach" that has already been approved by the state Senate.

The concept behind the proposed Maryland Agriculture Certainty Program is sound. Farmers would voluntarily agree to meet relatively high standards for pollution runoff and hire third-party inspectors to verify the results. In return, they would be spared from new regulations for 10 years. In a business that is fraught with uncertainty from droughts and floods, rising and falling commodity prices and boom or bust crop yields, the appeal of predictability is clear enough. The model is not unlike the discharge permit of some manufacturers or sewage treatment plants - a kind of contract between regulators and polluters.