Tax Burden

As you drive along U.S. 1 in Howard County, it is very quiet -- except for the tractor-trailers and trucks going by. Instead of houses and shopping malls, there is a mix of abandoned buildings and foliage.But this month, county planning and economic officials are considering a plan that could make the U.S. 1 area a center of work for residents -- and kick off a wave of expansion.Recognizing that viable space for development in the county is diminishing, a 13-member task force has been examining commercial redevelopment.

Constance Kihm writes that she is leaving Maryland because she "can no longer afford to support fiscal and social programs with which we do not agree" ("Farewell, my Maryland, farewell to taxes, farewell to extreme liberalism," May 10). She resents that Maryland "feels it is entitled to increase the tax burden on our hard-earned retirement income. " I am a pensioner who turned 65 last year. I discovered that Maryland does not tax the first $27,100 of retirement income! This saved my wife and me about $4,000 in state and local income tax for 2012.

Looks like our "tax and spend" Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley had his way again ("Md. Senate approves increase in gas tax," March 30). The Maryland Senate passed Governor O'Malley's massive 80 percent gasoline tax hike over Easter weekend. Now, Maryland families and businesses will be burdened with the 5th highest gas tax rate in the nation. Adding more pain at the pump and increasing costs of food and daily household items will evaporate more money out your family's budget! The gas tax hike was avoidable and it's not fair that another one of your taxes went up. This new foolish and unnecessary tax burden imposed in Maryland must be remembered by the voters of this state in the next election.

In his remarks to the Greater Baltimore Committee's annual meeting Wednesday night, T. Rowe Price Chairman Brian C. Rogers noted a contradiction in how the world sees Maryland as a place to do business. On the one hand, it is universally recognized for its top-ranked school systems and universities, skilled workforce, research activity, potential for innovation, and great quality of life. On the other, it frequently winds up toward the bottom of rankings of business competitiveness — most recently, by CEO Magazine — largely because of our tax system and regulatory environment.

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

In Tom Schaller's recent Op-Ed article ("Taxing the rich: good policy, good politics," April 6), he makes the case that the cure for our economic ills is more taxes on the rich. Tom argues that (1) increasing government spending stimulates the economy, (2) reducing income taxes retards economic growth, (3) the tax burden in the US too low, and (4) increasing taxes on the wealthy is justified because it's popular. Let's see, Obama and the governments of Greece, Ireland, and now Portugal have all spent trillions with little or no economic growth to show.

I guess Ron Smith believes that taxing the poor that will get us out of the mess we're in ("Don't think taxing 'the rich' can get us out of this bind," April 15). Why do conservatives like Ron Smith like use figures describing the "tax burden" to support their ideas? Because if they used net worth figures it wouldn't look like such a problem. In 2007, the total net worth of the top 1 percent of this country was about 34.6 percent of the country's total wealth. The net worth of the next 19 percent totaled 50.5 percent.

SOME U.S. insurance companies have created their own Bermuda triangle. Instead of ships and planes vanishing without a trace, these companies have figured out how to make their federal tax burden disappear. American property and casualty companies that insure businesses make their profits not on premiums charged but by investing their reserves. A handful of them have figured out that by reconstituting and headquartering their corporate parents in Bermuda, , their investment earnings can escape nearly all U.S. taxation.

A "Readers Respond" letter in The Sun ("Living in Maryland is far superior to living in Texas," June 28) contained some significant factual inaccuracies. The writer contends that the cost-of-living is less in Maryland than in Texas. According to CNBC, Texas ranks 8th on the list of states with the lowest cost-of-living. On the same list, Maryland is tied with Connecticut at 45th. The writer continues on to suggest that the personal tax burden is higher in Texas than in Maryland.

Dan Rodricks has admonished those who oppose Maryland's new law providing in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants ("Immigrants: We detest them – and need them," June 30). He points out that the hard, cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants saves citizens money on fruit and vegetable prices. But has Mr. Rodricks considered the ballooning tax burden on citizens in order to pay for the social service programs that have swelled because of this huge influx of illegal immigrants?