Higher Taxes

Recently, The Sun challenged my decision to vote against a proposal to raise the State of Maryland's debt ceiling from $925 million to $1.075 billion in the upcoming fiscal year ("Franchot drifts right," Dec. 26). While I appreciate that others may not share my point of view, I was surprised that The Sun would resort to name calling in expressing its disagreement. The accusation that I had "gone over to the side of anti-government activism" was simply outrageous, as was the suggestion that I was now in philosophical alignment with the tea party.

Why does the government not understand it is running out of other people's money? Politicians think the answer is not to cut spending but to increase taxes. The state of Maryland subscribes to the same cure. It cranks up the tax on cigarettes saying the higher price will deter people from smoking, but if people actually did stop smoking the state would lose that income. Now the state Transportation Trust Fund needs bolstering, so the government is talking about a 15-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax. Of course the federal CAFE standards call for vehicles to continue to get better mileage, which means less gas will be consumed and tax revenues will continue to decline, prompting calls for even higher taxes.

This past week Sen. John Kerry explained that tax increases are necessary due the current federal government's revenue shortfall (less citizen income, less income tax revenues). This all-too-common view assumes the moral right of government to a constantly rising income stream when neither businesses nor families enjoy such a right. Businesses and families have to live in economic reality; most governments - state and local as well as federal - don't. When governments spend every last cent by fiscal year-end, fail to pass budgets, and repeatedly fail to set aside rainy-day funds, that is financial mismanagement.

State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller predicted Thursday that the General Assembly would approve an increase in Maryland's gas tax, putting his considerable influence behind an issue that is likely to be divisive in the coming legislative session. "There's going to be a gas tax," Miller said flatly in an address to Maryland business leaders meeting here. "Is it popular? No, [but] it is going to have to get done now. " Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch spoke at the Maryland Chamber of Commerce Business Policy Conference.

Two groups charged with figuring out how the state can pay for new roads, a cleaner Chesapeake Bay and other key functions of government suggested the same basic answer Tuesday: Marylanders should be asked to dig a little deeper into their pockets. A blue-ribbon commission on transportation and a committee looking at sewage and growth issues both urged Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly to come up with more revenue. One recommended a 15-cent-a-gallon increase in the state's gasoline tax, while the other called for tripling Maryland's so-called "flush tax" to $90 by 2015.

I hope that driving on the newly repaved sections of Interstate 95 - without paying tolls - will be a reminder to everyone of how well-maintained infrastructure (highways, bridges, water and sewer lines) make life for all of us more comfortable as well as safer. The U.S. is seriously behind in maintaining and upgrading its infrastructure, much of which was built in the decades after World War II. For the last 20 years we have been starving our public sector by cutting taxes to the point where we now worry about not having enough money even to pay our police, firefighters and teachers.

Money from higher prices at bars and liquor stores is paying for athletic fields in Howard County, renovations to schools in Montgomery County and a new high school performing arts center in Anne Arundel. On Wednesday, Maryland's Board of Public Works approved $18 million for school construction projects in the three counties, doling out the first chunk of revenue from the 50 percent increase in the sales tax on alcohol that the General Assembly approved in April. The tax rose to 9 percent, from 6 percent, starting July 1. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, emphasized the jobs that would be created by the projects, asking officials from each school system who attended the board's meeting to estimate how many workers would be needed.

President Obama is proposing to raise taxes on millionaires in what's called the Buffett Rule. Billionaire Warren Buffett begged Congress to raise taxes on people like him, noting his tax rate is lower than his secretary's. Such a millionaire tax would affect 0.3 percent of the population.  Not enough to make a significant dent in the deficit, but certainly every bit can help.   Republicans, however, balk at requiring millionaires to pay more, saying they are job creators.  (If they are, we need them to step up their efforts.)

Brian Murphy's analysis of Warren Buffet's position on paying higher taxes misses the larger point Mr. Buffet was making ("Raising taxes on the rich won't cause them to flee," Aug. 29). The practical and reasonable response to our country's deficit situation is a combination of reduced spending and increased taxes. Only through both can we reduce the deficit significantly and ensure a stable economy that allows us to make the kind of investments we need in order to create jobs.

Your editorial advocating tax increases to fix Annapolis' job-killing spending problem once again misses the mark ("Tax increases should be on the table," Aug. 23). Government's insistence on uncontrolled, unsustainable spending has saddled future generations of Americans with record debt. Believing that significant cuts are not immediately needed is both naive and unwise. Maryland's revenues have not kept pace with the growth of the state budget, forcing elected officials to scramble to cover billion dollar-plus deficits.