Tax And Spending

NOWHERE IN MARYLAND is the debate over tax and spending policies more heated than in the Washington suburbs. Prince George's and Montgomery County voters will decide next Tuesday which is more important to them: Money for schools and police or lower local taxes?Both jurisdictions already have voter-imposed property tax caps. But P.G.'s 18-year-old cap, known as TRIM, is starting to hurt. Schools and the police are in dire need of more money, but there is no flexibility under TRIM. County Executive Wayne Curry wants to repeal TRIM and raise property taxes to help pay for $63 million in new aid for education, police, fire, libraries and public health.

AS THE DOW JONES average floats merrily above the 5000 mark and interest rates keep dipping ever so nicely, balanced-budget negotiators on Capitol Hill would be wise to heed Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's admonition.If they fail to come to an agreement and allow tax and spending issues to remain unresolved through the 1996 election campaign, Mr. Greenspan warns, "there will be a sharp increase in long-term interest rates." And, of course, a sharp drop in stock prices.His words are of far greater significance than the current posturing in budget talks.

House Budget Committee Chairman John R. Kasich, Republican of Ohio, will find himself in the middle of a bruising congressional battle later this week when the debate begins on legislation to slash the federal budget to pay for a massive tax cut.House Republicans are pushing a five-year, $190 billion package of cuts in business and personal taxes as part of the "Contract with America." Just two weeks ago, Mr. Kasich's committee unveiled a plan to cut discretionary spending by $100 billion to help fund the tax cuts.

WASHINGTON -- They brandish the banner of a reborn Reagan revolution, but congressional Republicans say they are determined not to make the mistake the former president did in 1981: cutting taxes without also cutting spending enough to spare the government from a pool of red ink.In response to Democratic criticism that the GOP's new round of proposed tax cuts would swell the budget deficit just as President Ronald Reagan's did, House Republicans are determined...

It's as true in life as it is in business: Nothing ever stands still. Regardless of how things appear, they're always moving forward or backward, getting better or getting worse.And here's another truism: In order to keep important things (or governmental services) moving forward and getting better, we must be prepared to either spend more money or provide the services in a much smarter, more economical way.Finally, we arrive at the ultimate governmental truism for modern day Baltimore County: Our citizens are already contributing the maximum they can contribute for the services they need.

Until she fills in the gaps, Republican gubernatorial nominee Ellen R. Sauerbrey has a credibility problem in her grand-sounding plan to cut state income taxes 24 percent. Her failure to indicate how and where she will slash programs to pay for her tax reductions makes it impossible to judge if this is an election-year shell-game or a viable approach to shrinking government sensibly.Mrs. Sauerbrey's opponent, Democrat Parris Glendening, is no XTC paragon of virtue on fiscal questions, either.

When Maryland's General Assembly ended its 90-day session Monday night, it was as if lawmakers consciously tried to capsulize their four-year term in one long, final day.They killed any bill too complicated or controversial. They buried anything that might interfere with their re-election plans. They passed a handful of "feel-good" measures that neither did much nor hurt anyone.When the midnight adjournment arrived and confetti was dumped on the presiding officers, an epitaph for members of the legislative class of 1991-1994 could have been written: "They treaded water."

Anyone so foolish to have read the election returns as a harbinger of progressive politics in America ought to take a second look.To be sure, Bill Clinton's victory -- the second for a Democrat president in 24 years -- will herald a dramatic change from the anti-governmentalism of the Reagan-Bush era. With the ''bully pulpit'' at his command plus a few good economic policies, Mr. Clinton might restore some faith that government can be a positive instrument of...

How that two roisterous party conventions are out of the way, George Bush and Bill Clinton can get down to the serious business of a marathon slugfest until American voters register their verdict in November. At this stage, this can be said: It could be a Clinton blowout or a Bush squeaker; the reverse is not likely.What handicaps the incumbent president is a persistent recession that won't go away. Shortly before his acceptance speech Thursday night, the government reported a perverse jump in unemployment benefits claims.

The retreat from reality continues in Baltimore County. Its legislative delegation has become a captive of the anti-tax crazies. More accurately, these malleable officials have marched into the "something for nothing" camp themselves.It is understandable that legislators differ on the need to raise taxes. But no legislator should be of the opinion that government can operate without a budget. Yet there were 15 of 22 Baltimore County delegates and 6 of 7 senators voting against passage of a budget nine days ago. It was a vote for anarchy.