Higher Taxes

ANNAPOLIS -- The Senate's budget committee will be asked today to raise Maryland's sales tax, raise the gasoline tax and raise taxes on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and long-distance telephone service -- to raise about $430 million in higher taxes in all.The Budget and Taxation Committee also will be asked to have the state assume the multimillion-dollar cost of running Baltimore's courts and prosecutor's office, and to send the city another $23 million...

WASHINGTON -- For well-off retirees, executives who entertain, and people relocating for a new job this is not going to be a happy New Year. Uncle Sam is about to put his hand deeper into their pockets.But millions of working poor families will find themselves a little richer as dozens of tax changes go into effect Jan. 1. The changes, which will raise billion of dollars for the federal government, are part of President Clinton's fiscal 1994 budget."This particular set of tax changes is consistent with the goal of the budget bill as a whole, which was to increase taxes on the relatively high-income people and actually cut taxes for lower-income working people," said Randall Weiss, tax analyst with the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche in Washington.

WASHINGTON -- Despite anti-tax sentiment at the ballot box last fall, at least 24 states are proposing higher taxes to help balance their 1992 budgets.A national survey released yesterday found that most governors and legislators, forced to confront the most severe state fiscal crunch since the 1982-1983 recession, are resorting to a mixture of revenue increases and spending cuts to make ends meet.The report paints a grim picture of the financial condition of the states and warns that even if the economy turns around later this year, state governments will be slow to recover.

As supporters of a drive to incorporate Edgewood gather signatures for a referendum, a group of residents has organized to fight making the Harford County community a municipality.Howard J. Latham, who heads Fiscal Responsibility in Edgewood's Economy (FREE), said the group of more than a dozen residents is worried that making the 15-square-mile area a city would mean much higher taxes."Becoming a city means having a mayor, a city council and more," Latham said. "All of these things involve equipment, salaries and buildings, and one of the ways they want to pay for this is by raising property taxes."

Perhaps exhibiting a case of collective amnesia, Anne Arundel County residents said they would be willing to pay higher taxes for police and fire protection, education and anti-drug programs, according to a survey released yesterday.And only 38 percent of those polled could remember voting for the tax cap on last November's ballot, despite the fact the measure passed with 70 percent of the vote."Ah, how quickly we forget," said County Executive Robert R. Neall, referring to the poll results in his annual budget message.

The task force charged with figuring out how to pay for Maryland's future needs began work yesterday on a process that could result in recommendations for higher taxes. The 17-member commission, created by the General Assembly this year, is to review the state's tax structure and other revenue sources with an eye toward identifying enough money to cover transportation, education and health care demands. Potential solutions to be discussed likely will include increasing the sales or gasoline tax, expanding the sales tax to apply to additional services, and legalizing slot machines.

Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann took aim yesterday at a tough anti-growth initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot -- the only such effort in the Baltimore area this year -- claiming it would produce a suburban nightmare of higher taxes, lower revenues and lost jobs.Rehrmann warned that the proposed limits on development would cost Harford County $53 million in tax revenues in the first three years, triple water and sewer bills, force a 34-cent property tax increase, require up to $55 million more in school spending and frighten away new business.

Anyone who wondered whether a vote for President Barack Obama meant something should have been reassured by his performance in today's news conference. In the central issue that faces the country right now, whether the resolution to the so-called fiscal cliff will involve higher taxes on the wealthy, he could not have been more clear. Republicans who think they can blackmail the president into backing down on that question, as he did two years ago, had better think again. Mr. Obama outlined several reasons why he was willing to accept an extension of all the Bush tax cuts, including those for the wealthy, at the end of 2010.

With time for compromise slipping away, the Maryland Senate adopted a budget last night that relies on slot-machine gambling and higher taxes on properties, corporations and health insurance policies to pull the state through the coming year. The $22.6 billion budget passed with bipartisan support as just 10 days remain for the Senate and House to resolve differences between each chamber's spending plan. The House budget, approved this month, avoids slots and imposes different taxes and fees.

Maryland has had governors who have left the state prosperous and free. Now we've got Martin O'Malley, who in six short years has given us higher taxes, casinos, speed cameras, is attempting to dump pension costs on the counties, and finessed a billion-dollar budget shortfall. Oh, yes, and he's given us gay marriage, too, no matter what actual Marylanders think about it. Certainly, the governor doesn't care what citizens think. He's likely already ordered up his "O'Malley for President" buttons.