Higher Taxes

Isn't the governor supposed to represent the views of the constituents who elected him to office? The governor is opposed to the death penalty, so no murderers have been executed. Does that represent the wishes of the majority of Marylanders? The governor is for in-state tuition for illegals, which the majority of Marylanders are against. UnderMartin O'Malley's administration, we have seen increases in our taxes, tolls and fees. Now this man wants to add more to the already-high cost of gasoline.

There is no question Baltimore City schools need financial help to renovate aging buildings, but one aspect of the plan to finance this massive renovation project misses the mark and will have a devastating impact on hard-working businesses and families in the city. The proposed plan, known as the "bottle tax," would increase the current 2-cent tax on beverage containers to 5 cents for city residents when they purchase soft drinks, iced teas, water and juices from their local grocery stores.

A whopping budget battle is shaping up in Annapolis, where the leaders of the House of Delegates and Senate floated widely divergent proposals Friday to raise income taxes as part of a plan to close a $1 billion shortfall. The Senate is considering a measure that would raise the income tax for almost every Marylander by a quarter of a percent, effectively rolling back a tax cut made 15 years ago, key senators said. The House is looking at a plan that would hit the top 7 percent to 10 percent of earners with a steep increase but leave everyone else alone, said House SpeakerMichael E. Busch.

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.

Your editorial about the proposed Maryland flush tax failed to mention a number of facts ("The flush tax blues," Jan. 27). For one, the upgrade of the treatment plants was originally budgeted at $550 million by the Glendening administration. It's easy to pass on the financial responsibility for a bill to your successor. What about the farms? According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, agriculture is responsible for 40.9 percent of the nitrogen and 46.5 percent of the phosphorus released into the Chesapeake Bay. Nothing is being done about this.

With the presidential election in full swing and Congress mired in gridlock, President Barack Obama used his third State of the Union address Tuesday to sound a populist message on the economy, outlining a series of policies he said would give the middle class "a fair shot" at prosperity. Highlighting the nation's widening gap between rich and poor, Obama told a joint session of Congress that the nation must do more to reverse the decades-long slide of manufacturing jobs, streamline an unwieldy federal tax code and make college more affordable for millions of American workers.

Gov.Martin O'Malleysays he needs higher taxes to create jobs in Maryland. Since Maryland does not require subcontractors to validate citizenship, most of the new jobs will most likely go to illegals, or new Americans as the governor likes to call them. Most working families in this state cannot afford higher taxes, tolls, and fees. Working people deal with spending cuts every month when the bills come in. It is high time the morons in Annapolis take a lesson from them. The Maryland legislature is lazy and has always taken the easy way out - taxes.

As listeners to the late, great Ron Smith know, the WBAL talk show host and Sun columnist used to introduce Gov. Martin O'Malley on air as Father O'Malley, with religious music running in the background. He was referring to Mr. O'Malley's tendency to frequent literary allusion and reverent tone whether discussing the death penalty or septic systems. If he were to write a religious manifesto, I offer this suggestion for the O'Malley Creed. I believe in one party, the Democrats, maker of all things in Maryland, and of all things visible and invisible, including those in public office who have been put on trial for corruption like former Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson and State Senator Ulysses Currie and those whose deeds the party will never reveal.

Greg Mankiw points us to this new paper published through the National Bureau of Economic Research. The 1991 increase in the federal alcohol tax, Philip Cook and Chrisitine Durrance find, is correlated with a decrease traffice deaths, violent crime and property crime. They estimate that the tax increase reduced injury deaths by 7,000 in 1991 alone.  Of course, this may also be a study in the dangers of equating correlation with causation. So many other things have gone on in the last 20 years -- demographic changes, anti-drunk driving campaigns, changes in drunk-driving penalties and so forth -- that giving a lot of credit to the federal tax seems like a stretch.

Contrary to Vincent DeMarco's claims, minors have access to tobacco products because youth and retailers are breaking the law ("Cigar tax increase would reduce teen use," Jan. 4). Increasing taxes is not the answer; enforcing the law is. Higher taxes will cause additional economic hardship to Maryland's small business owners in the midst of the worst economy in 30 years. If these businesses close, the unemployed will potentially seek public assistance. This one-two economic gut punch will only exacerbate Maryland's fiscal challenges.