Income

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

Just like our government, the tax-and-spend loving Sun doesn't get it ("Unfinished business," May 16). It's not really about a lousy 1 percent or 2 percent gas or income tax increase. The people of this state are rebelling against wasteful spending and ever-increasing budgets by our greedy, clueless government. If for once in their pathetic political lives, our politicians would start spending our money in a responsible and frugal manner, then just maybe we would be willing to consider an increase in taxes or fees without "hand-wringing and demagoguery" as suggested by The Sun. Here's my suggestion to our legislators: Stop the indiscriminate, wasteful spending, bloated budgets, and stealing of funds and replace all the money pilfered from our transportation fund, and maybe you would have enough money to fund needed projects without raising taxes in this depressed economy of ours.

The Sun states that the "primary reason the terms of the 1983 compromise [on Social Security] no longer work is demographic - the population is aging and people are living longer" ("Social Security can be fixed," April 26). Actually, even way back in 1983, people understood about demographics. The agreement reached then took full account of aging baby boomers. What it did not anticipate is that a higher and higher proportion of national income would flow to the highest income categories.

It took three carefully scripted days, but Maryland's ruling Democrats finally put in place the budget deal that eluded them in the waning hours of the state's regular session last month. The revenue package approved by the House on Wednesday will raise income tax rates on 14 percent of Maryland taxpayers while shifting some teacher pension costs to counties. The adjournment of this week's special session effectively ended the first budget impasse the state had seen in two decades.

In its editorial on the Senate committee recommendations on the state budget ("A costly breakthrough?" March 13) The Sun recognizes the responsible, balanced approach of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, then asks "whether all this might be accomplished with less sacrifice from taxpayers. " Let's put this in perspective. The committee's tax plan costs the median Maryland household $41 a year - less than a buck a week. Even at the upper reaches of high income taxpayers, it's well under one-fifth of 1 percent of income.

NEW YORK - The Commerce Department said Monday that personal spending rose by 0.5 percent in January, slightly better than expected. But incomes edged up only 0.1 percent, which was lower than the 0.4 percent gain that economists had expected. The income gain was the weakest showing in four months, partly because millions of Social Security recipients did not get their usual cost-of-living boost. The weak income growth could depress spending in the months ahead, acting as a further drag on the fragile economic recovery.

The state is trying to get the word out to low-income Marylanders that they could be eligible for reduced-cost telephone service. Telephone service is discounted to as little as 66 cents a month for up to 30 outgoing local calls, or $10 a month for unlimited local calls, through the federal Lifeline program. It's funded through fees that users pay as part of their telephone bills. A separate program, Link Up, reduces the installation cost for new landline service. Lifeline has existed since the 1990s, but the federal government estimates that no more than half of eligible Marylanders were signed up for it last year.

How much in savings and investments should you have by age 35 or 45? Or, for that matter, at 65 when you're likely to be near retirement? If you don't know, you have plenty of company. So many figures are bounced about that it's often difficult for people to know what's the right amount. Many workers end up saving what they can and hoping for the best. That's why some financial advisers now use a simple yardstick to help clients quickly see how they measure up. It suggests the amount of savings and investments you should have in relation to income at different ages.

Vera Artis would seem to be a perfect fit for the state program created decades ago to ease the property tax burden on homeowners with modest incomes. She has no major assets beyond the tidy East Baltimore townhouse that she and her husband, now deceased, bought in the 1980s. Social Security and a pension bring in just $16,000 a year. "Money," she says, "is tight. " And in fact, based on her income, the state would have picked up more than half of her $1,280 property tax bill this year — if only she had known to apply for the help.

WASHINGTON -- The income of an average middle-class family in Maryland rose a whopping 9 percent, or $4,171, during the 1980s, according to a report released yesterday.That compares with an average gain of only $140 per middle-class family in the country as a whole, said the report by a liberal Washington think-tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.Maryland was one of only four states that narrowed the income gap between the middle and upper-income classes during the last decade, according to the report, "Where Have All the Dollars Gone: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Disparities Over the 1980s."

A recent letter in The Sun claims the rich pay more than their due in taxes ("The wealthy pay more than their fair share," May 14). To support this, Thomas M. Neale writes that "the top 1 percent pay 38 percent of all gross U.S. federal tax revenues. " Wow! But wait, they own 40 percent of U.S. wealth, so by Mr. Neale's logic, we should raise their taxes proportionately until they pay the full 40 percent. Well done! Thank you for supporting the Democratic assertion that the wealthiest are not paying their fair share.

After beating back a series of challenges in the House of Delegates, lawmakers are poised to give final approval Wednesday to a plan to raise the state income tax to fund schools, police and Medicaid. The legislation, introduced Monday by Gov. Martin O'Malley and backed by the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, would subject top-earning Marylanders to the seventh-highest income tax rate in the country, according to the National Tax Foundation. Their rate now ranks 10th. The measure also would raise taxes on some tobacco products and fees on some state transactions.

A Maryland family making more than $175,000 will pay at least $254 more in income taxes this year under a revenue-raising plan the Maryland General Assembly is expected to take up when it convenes for special session on Monday. The same family of joint tax filers with two children reporting more than $1.1 million in gross income would pay an extra $3,269 — a larger hit to the very rich. The tax proposal would target the state's more affluent — pleasing liberals because it spares everyone in the lowest tax brackets and ensures that education and other programs won't be cut. Conservatives, however, warn it would turn away wealthy residents and hurt small businesses.

Catonsville native Carolyn Vidmar is completing a second year of service with College Possible Milwaukee, a nonprofit, dedicated to helping low income students achieve college success. Through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, she coordinates media relations, contributes to the writing, design and photography for communications materials and maintains the website, along with social media accounts. An alumna of McDonogh School, Vidmar earned a journalism degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Much of the coverage of the need for a special budget session of the Maryland legislature has focused on the political machinations of its leaders. That's understandable. But we should not ignore the impact on ordinary people if the legislature fails to finalize a budget. Major victims will be thousands of middle-income college students from every community in Maryland. The budget package proposed by Gov.Martin O'Malleyand endorsed by both houses of the legislature caps tuition hikes at 3 percent for this fall at all the public four-year campuses.

The Sun states that the "primary reason the terms of the 1983 compromise [on Social Security] no longer work is demographic - the population is aging and people are living longer" ("Social Security can be fixed," April 26). Actually, even way back in 1983, people understood about demographics. The agreement reached then took full account of aging baby boomers. What it did not anticipate is that a higher and higher proportion of national income would flow to the highest income categories.

MARYLAND'S LOW-INCOME housing market is headed into a crisis: Nearly half of 35,000 low-income units statewide may be lost in the next four years because their owners are thinking of quitting subsidy programs. Owners can make more money by charging market-rate rents, which are soaring, or by selling the buildings. The result can be seen in Baltimore City: 43 percent of tenants with Section 8 vouchers cannot find qualifying apartments or landlords willing to accept them. In coming months, the situation is only likely to grow worse as the pool of low- income housing shrinks.

Mid-Atlantic Realty Trust (MART) posted a double-digit gain in its operational income in the first six months of 1995 to nearly $4 million, despite a slight dip in the three-month period that ended June 30.The Linthicum-based real estate investment trust, which reported funds from operations of $1.9 million, or 31 cents per share, in the second quarter for a 3.5 percent decline, attributed part of the dip to an accounting change. Its $6 million in revenues for the quarter represented a 2.4 percent increase.

First Mariner Bancorp reported Wednesday its first quarterly profit in five years, a sign of progress for the Baltimore institution struggling to raise capital and avoid a federal takeover. The company earned $1.8 million for the first three months of 2012, boosted by a recovering economy and steadier housing market. In contrast, First Mariner had a loss of $7.3 million for the same period last year. On a per-share basis, the company earned 10 cents, compared with a loss of 40 cents.

Don Backe and Karl Guerra share more than a love for sailing: After their lives were transformed by tragedy, both men used the sport and the organization they now run to regain their sense of purpose. Backe helped found Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating in 1991, four years after a horrific one-vehicle automobile accident in Crownsville left the former independent private school headmaster a paraplegic at age 51. Guerra is now executive director for the Annapolis-based nonprofit organization that helps those with physical, mental and emotional handicaps - along with others who can't afford financially to sail - gain entrance to a sport Guerra thought he had lost when he suffered a massive stroke in 2000 at age 52. But it could take the dream of a much younger man without any disabilities with the same love of being on the open waters to help keep CRAB afloat.