Higher Taxes

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he believes he has the upper hand in a brewing debate over whether taxes should be increased to help solve the state's budget shortfall. The Republican governor made the prediction as Democratic leaders in the General Assembly continued to disagree over whether their party should embrace higher levies this year. On one side are Senate Democrats, who all but ruled out higher taxes yesterday because of fears that it would hurt their party's image with voters.

Friday, forecasters expect the Labor Department to report the economy added 155,000 jobs in December - substantially less than is needed to pull unemployment down to acceptable levels. The tax and spending package passed by the Senate and House provides little prospect of improvement, as the U.S. economy continues to suffer from insufficient demand and will continue growing at a subpar 2 percent a year. Factors contributing to weak demand and slow jobs creation are the huge trade deficits with China and other Asian exporters, as well as on oil. However, on the supply side, increased business regulations, rising health care costs and mandates imposed by Obamacare - and now higher taxes on small businesses - discourage investments that raise productivity and competitiveness and create jobs.

ANNAPOLIS -- Man bit dog yesterday: Business called for higher taxes.At a hearing before a House committee, representatives of thousands of Maryland businesses endorsed a Schaefer administration plan to raise immediately $61 million in unemployment insurance taxes.But despite a strong show of support from the state chamber of commerce and other groups, there was dissension. Bethlehem Steel Corp. warned that the proposed changes would be "catastrophic to the economy," particularly a plan to raise the amount of payroll on which unemployment insurance taxes are levied.

Preventing the loss of Maryland forestlands has long been a legislative preoccupation, for good reason. Despite all the developer rhetoric about the amenity value of trees, leveling a wooded building site is a lot easier than trying to construct houses in the midst of a standing grove.Much of the controversy between developers and tree-huggers has centered around the complex regulations drawn up for the Forest Conservation Act that went into effect this year. Builders must count trees on the property and preserve or replant up to 50 percent of the stand.

On the page opposite, the three leading contenders for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate in the Sept. 13 primary give Marylanders a glimpse of the forthcoming GOP campaign to unseat the incumbent three-term Democrat, Paul S. Sarbanes, in the November general election. They attack the Baltimore senator's liberal voting record, his long stay on Capitol Hill and his low profile over the years.All of this is wholly predictable. Senator Sarbanes has heard these complaints before from a host of political opponents, and yet his hold on the Maryland electorate has been such that he has coasted to easy victory in campaign after campaign.

THE GREAT EMOTIONAL divide in Carroll County between supporters of a property tax increase and the opponents of higher taxes may not be healed by simple compromise, any more than a chasm can be spanned by half a bridge.Nevertheless, the suburbanizing county is at a critical juncture after years of political denial of its growing needs. Local taxes have got to be raised to meet those communal obligations, starting with a $5 million shortfall in budget revenue for the coming fiscal year.There is a demonstrated need for repairing roads and bridges that have been neglected over time, for building schools to teach children who cannot be put off any longer, for preserving farmland that may soon pass to developmental sprawl, for maintaining the safety net of social services and the first-class public library system that benefits all.Yes, everything can be cut back, "frills" eliminated and only "essential services" retained.

CHARTER government means bigger government, higher taxes and heavier costs, claim critics of a proposal to switch from commissioner government in Carroll County.Not so.The salaries of a full-time county executive and five part-time council members would amount to less pay than for the three part-time commissioners and their appointed, full-time chief of staff.Higher taxes? Four of eight charter counties in Maryland have lower property tax rates than Carroll's. Revenue needs relate to the size of the county, not the style of government.

NO WONDER the public is confused. In his last two statewide campaigns, Parris N. Glendening opposed higher taxes to pay for road and mass transit projects. Yet even before he was inaugurated for a second term last month, the governor changed his tune, asserting Maryland must raise its gasoline tax to ease traffic congestion.Now, just three weeks later, the governor has taken the issue off the table for 1999 while reiterating the need for more taxes in 2000.Mr. Glendening has thrived by playing both sides of this issue.

ANNAPOLIS -- About 700 people from church-affiliated community organizations in Baltimore and Prince George's County crammed into an Annapolis church last night in an effort to convince state legislators that budget balancing is about more than numbers.It's about moral issues, they said."We're here to hold up a moral vision," exhorted the Rev. Roger Gench of Baltimore's Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church.He told the standing-room-only crowd at Asbury United Methodist Church that any budget denying full funding of a state school aid program known as "APEX," or taking poor Medicaid patients off state-subsidized kidney dialysis machines, or eliminating the already minimal General Public Assistance benefits for poor disabled adults, is immoral.

There's no denying that teachers across the region are being squeezed by the tightening budget vise gripping local governments. Many have forfeited scheduled pay increases and face the threat of furloughs and cuts in materials and extracurricular activities. Frustration, even anger, is to be expected, but some educators are responding with behavior bordering on the unprofessional. Consider the outrageous quid pro quo in Montgomery County. Some teachers will prepare college recommendations only if students write to local or state legislators urging higher taxes to pay for salary increases and school programs.