Tax Burden

Thomas M. Neale's letter to the editor ("The wealthy pay more than their fair share," May 14) uses the usual Republican tactic of irrelevant statistics to confuse the issue of tax fairness. It does not matter that the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 38 percent of income taxes. What matters is what percentage of their income do they pay in taxes - and not just income taxes, but all taxes. In the tax year of 2010, Only 42 percent of federal revenue came from income taxes. The rest came from payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare taxes, 40 percent)

Thomas M. Neale's letter to the editor ("The wealthy pay more than their fair share," May 14) uses the usual Republican tactic of irrelevant statistics to confuse the issue of tax fairness. It does not matter that the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 38 percent of income taxes. What matters is what percentage of their income do they pay in taxes - and not just income taxes, but all taxes. In the tax year of 2010, Only 42 percent of federal revenue came from income taxes. The rest came from payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare taxes, 40 percent)

Sometimes the state giveth back.Gov. William Donald Schaefer did just that yesterday by signing into law a bill intended to ease the sales tax burden on small retailers and the companies that supply them.Yesterday's bill was a reaction to a section of the tax law passed in 1992 that was aimed at people who avoided paying sales taxes, especially at large warehouse-type stores. But retailers had complained that last year's tax law created an administrative burden that ended up costing small retailers money, and earned very little for the state.

Your article ("O'Malley faces political risks of tax increases," May 17) suggests that Gov.Martin O'Malley's future political ambitions will be damaged by his successful efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy. But I ask, would his prospects have been enhanced if he had allowed major cuts in funding for health care, education, environmental clean up, and programs that benefit the elderly, children, homeless, handicapped and developmentally disabled? I think not. As a business executive whose tax burden will undoubtedly go up as a result of these measures, I could not in good conscience oppose these tax increases.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton said yesterday that his economic program would require courage and sacrifices to do "something no generation has ever had to do before."Laying groundwork for the spending cuts and tax increases he plans to announce Feb. 17 in his State of the Union address, Mr. Clinton said the greatest burden will be borne by the rich, whom he described as "those who got the most and gave the least during the past dozen years.""While most Americans paid higher taxes on lower real incomes, the privileged few paid lower taxes on much higher real incomes," Mr. Clinton said in a five-minute radio address, his first as president.

The Sun's article "State leaders look at Md. income taxes" (July 19) was a good start at engaging the attention of taxpayers in the discussion about how to address the state's $1.5 billion structural deficit. And, yes, Maryland's income tax could be made more progressive. But the role of business in carrying the tax burden also needs to be brought into the discussion. According to a February report from the Council on State Taxation comparing the tax burdens of business among the states for fiscal 2006, Maryland ranks No. 48 (tied with Oregon)

As they argued over a proposed $50 annual trash fee increase yesterday, Howard County Council members were given something else to consider -- the total tax burden of county residents compared with those in eight surrounding counties. County budget director Raymond S. Wacks argued that based on his comparison of the nine central Maryland counties, Howard residents pay less in combined taxes and fees than people in six other jurisdictions. Only Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties were lower.

Carroll County officials are looking for ways to reduce the property tax burden on senior citizens. One possible solution is creating a program that would allow seniors and the disabled to defer tax bills until their houses are transferred or sold, the county comptroller told commissioners yesterday. Under state law, local governments have the authority to create a tax-deferral program for property owners who are older than 65 or disabled, have lived in their homes for at least five years and meet income requirements set by the county, said Comptroller Eugene Curfman.

Although Howard residents have been hit with a big income tax increase and face skyrocketing property values, a budget office analysis shows their local tax bills are among the lowest in the region. Howard's local tax bill remains third-lowest among metropolitan subdivisions, just above Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, despite an income tax increase last year that brought Howard's rate to the legal limit of 3.2 percent. "The question we were trying to answer is: If you are a Howard resident, what is your tax rate comparable to somebody else - if you picked them up and plopped them down in another place?"

Carroll County officials are looking for ways to reduce the property tax burden on senior citizens. One possible solution is creating a program that would allow seniors and the disabled to defer tax bills until their houses are transferred or sold, the county comptroller told commissioners yesterday. Under state law, local governments have the authority to create a tax-deferral program for property owners who are older than 65 or disabled, have lived in their homes for at least five years and meet income requirements set by the county, said Comptroller Eugene Curfman.

Thomas Neale's recent letter to the editor employs uses usual Republican tactic of throwing out irrelevant statistics to confuse the issue of tax fairness ("The wealthy pay more than their fair share," May 14). It doesn't matter that the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 38 percent of the income taxes. What matters is what percentage of their income do they pay in taxes - and not just income taxes, but all taxes. In the tax year of 2010, only 42 percent of federal revenue came from income taxes.

In his column on tax fairness, commentator Bob Price makes a mistake common among conservatives - so common, in fact, that it must be intentional. Price asks "Is it fair that almost half of Americans pay no federal income tax?" ("Let's talk about the meaning of fairness," Jan. 27). There's nothing wrong with this statement because Mr. Price identifies the tax in question. However, later in the column Mr. Price drops the reference to income tax and implies that he is writing about all taxes; for example: "Should the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay more than one-third of the nation's taxes?

Gov. Martin O'Malley promised efficient government, and as usual that means raise taxes and blame those nasty Republican tea party people who feel that they are taxed enough already. During his term as governor, he has raised the tax burden on the people of Maryland to the fourth highest in the country and will not quit until Maryland is No. 1. Charles Lippens

Editor: Mr. [Patrick] McGrady's position that there is little room for compromise in politics is reckless. Compromise is American. Compromise is what allowed our founding fathers to settle on, adopt, and ratify our Constitution. It is a fundamental tenet of our political system. All too often, extremist politicians use "principle" as their excuse to refuse offers of compromise and moderation. And lately, it has become popular to cloak that principle explanation under the misguided notion that it is what the founding fathers would have done.

The Sun investigation into the Homestead tax credit and its impact on the city ("Distorted discount," Dec. 18) perpetuates the fiction that the Baltimore property tax rate (2.268 percent) is "at least double that of any other jurisdiction in Maryland. " I am looking at my current Howard County property tax bill and I am obliged to pay a total of 1.230 percent for county tax, fire protection, and ad valorem (debt service on county bonds and operation of the county water and sewer system)

Anthony Marcavage continues a vital conversation about the nation's social contract ("Both sides wrong about social contract," Nov. 3) and promotes an at-first-blush balanced view that both liberals and conservatives are wrong - certainly plausible in this day and age. However, Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's argument is mischaracterized in order to conclude falsely that her contention about what we each owe one another and society is...

The Obama economic team's announcement this week that it wants more tax relief for small businesses is good news for the economy. Small business today is larger than big business - it earns more money and employs more people - and while Wall Street bailouts may be necessary to preserve capital and liquidity, they are also likely to raise the long-term tax burden of Main Street. If this happens, we will be hurting the very businesses that we need to pull us out of the recession. The predominance of small business in the American economy didn't happen by accident.

Debates about deficit reduction in American politics have become rather lopsided: We talk a lot about spending cuts but rarely, if ever, about revenue increases. Why the asymmetry? With the Occupy Wall Street movement gaining traction, suddenly there is some discussion of raising taxes on the top 1 percent. But as the 1 percenters and their media and political defenders correctly note, America's budget woes cannot be solved by focusing solely on the top 1 percent. That just means our revenue problems run far deeper.

In response to the recent letter from William Smith ("Gas tax brings out whiners," Oct. 19), let me first state that I am one of those "freeloading" conservatives Mr. Smith complains about in his letter. My employer pays me twice a month, and each and every time I look at my pay stub, I have deductions for state and federal withholding so I must be a taxpaying "freeloader. " I trust I have your permission to use my car to drive on our roads, use police and fire services if I need them, and put my trash out on pick-up day. After all, Mr. Smith implies in his letter that conservatives don't pay taxes and "whine" about tax increases.