Tax Collections

Gov. Martin O'Malley has put much on the line with his decision to call the General Assembly into special session on Oct. 29. His purpose is not only to solve next year's $1.7 billion budget deficit but also to finally resolve the state's ongoing structural deficit - the growing gap between spending and tax collections - that has existed since the $1.3 billion Thornton aid to education plan was adopted in 2002 without a funding source. We opposed a special session. Our preference would have been for such a complex proposal to undergo the fullest possible review and for public involvement to be maximized during a 90-day regular session with a budget in hand instead of a shorter-term whirlwind without one. But the governor's argument that waiting until January would put the state $500 million deeper in the hole has some merit as well.

Finally.Maryland's term on the economic tundra seems over. After eight years of unaccustomed slow growth, employment turbulence and fiscal doubt, the state has rejoined the nation in the sunny commercial uplands.Maryland gave birth to 40,000 jobs last year and is expected to mint at least another 40,000 this year. How good is 40,000 jobs? From 1989 to 1996, the state managed to add 54,000 jobs -- less than 8,000 annually.Unemployment is down. Incomes are up, and so are tax collections. Layoffs have dwindled.

Maryland's fiscal picture remains remarkably rosy as state revenues continue to significantly outpace projections made only three months ago, officials said yesterday.During the fiscal year that ends June 30, the state has taken in almost $90 million more than had been projected as recently as March.In all, thanks to Maryland's robust economy, state revenues are expected to be about $450 million higher than projected a year ago for the current fiscal year.Much of the newest revenue surge is because of higher-than-expected income tax collections -- much of it on capital gains, said a spokesman for state Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein.

ALTHOUGH the Anne Arundel County Council has approved the budget for next year, Superintendent Carol S. Parham is not about to abandon her fight to get more money for the school system.At Wednesday's meeting of the school board, she voiced publicly what she has been saying privately for weeks.The fiscal 1999 budget, as approved, won't be enough to finance school operations for the entire year. The system will need a transfer to balance its books.County Executive John G. Gary, on the other hand, insists that the county has increased education spending as much as it can afford.

State revenues are pouring in at such a robust pace that Marylanders will likely enjoy a new round of tax cuts this year, key lawmakers said yesterday.Adopting a distinctly partisan tone on what could be the No. 1 pocketbook issue in this year's election, Gov. Parris N. Glendening and legislative leaders said they were working on a Democratic tax relief package to be enacted before the General Assembly adjourns April 13.While no consensus has emerged, lawmakers said a tax plan would likely accelerate the five-year, 10 percent income tax cut passed last year and include new tax relief for the working poor.

A quarterly poll suggests that some companies have soured on their expectations for Maryland's economy and on their view of the state as a business home. But more than a third of those surveyed still rated Maryland "business-friendly."In the survey, conducted by the University of Baltimore, 21 percent of companies queried described Maryland as "anti-business" or "business unfriendly," up from 15 percent at the end of 1997. The percentage of companies rating Maryland "business-friendly" fell from 51 in late 1997 to 43 now.Possible reasons for the change, said analysts at the university's Maryland Business Research Partnership, were the recent resignation of James T. Brady as Maryland economic development secretary and the apparent leveling off of Maryland's job growth.

Maryland finished its financial year in remarkably good shape with a $117 million surplus that is the largest in a decade, officials said yesterday.During the fiscal year that ended June 30, state revenues by far exceeded projections, chiefly because of higher-than-expected income tax collections generated by Maryland's robust economy.Gov. Parris N. Glendening called it "very good news," and said if re-elected, he would seek to devote a significant portion of the surplus to renovating and building schools.

Congratulations! You just filed your tax return. You and the Internal Revenue Service are quits for another year (barring mistakes and audits, of course).It was a hellish struggle. W-2. Form 1040. Schedule A. The work sheet to see if you need to file Form Something-or-other. Earned income. Unearned income. Early withdrawals from IRA. Alternative Minimum Tax. A 54-line form to separate $85 worth of capital gains into three categories.There must be, you are thinking, an easier way.In fact, many easier ways to collect America's taxes are under study.

Heat and noise have been the main products of the legislative debate over Maryland's business climate lately. A business-sponsored research group tried yesterday to shed a little more light.The Maryland Business Research Partnership published what it called the most detailed report yet on this state's status as a place to employ and be employed.As befits the increasingly competitive trade of interstate business recruitment, the study offers precise evaluations of Maryland's prospects that even a bookie could love.

IT MAY BE September, but June is busting out all over. The city has counted the taxes collected for the last month of the past fiscal year and discovered several records were broken. Property tax collections for June reached $9.6 million, compared to $2.3 million for June 1996. Personal property tax revenue was $3.3 million, compared to $527,000 for June 1996. Penalties and interest reached $2.6 million, compared to $580,000 in June 1996.But it doesn't stop there. Income tax revenue was $19.3 million, compared to $15.6 million in June 1996.

Towson anti-crime rally scheduled for Friday 2 The Baltimore County Police Department and the Towson Citizens on Patrol will host a Rally Against Crime at 6 p.m. Friday on Allegheny Avenue between the traffic circle and Washington Avenue. The event will begin with a ceremony to recognize the people and organizations who have worked to keep the area safe. Event-goers will have the opportunity to board a firetruck, sit in a race car and a police car, and watch a demonstration by the department's police dog unit.

Maryland's tax collections are coming in on target this year, according to newly released state figures, but Board of Revenue Estimates members cautioned that the economic picture remains uncertain. The latest estimates are in line with those that state lawmakers used as the basis for tax increases and recommended cuts in future spending they enacted during last month's special session, meaning that barring an economic slowdown or huge new spending programs, the state will not likely return to the days of projected deficits anytime soon.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has put much on the line with his decision to call the General Assembly into special session on Oct. 29. His purpose is not only to solve next year's $1.7 billion budget deficit but also to finally resolve the state's ongoing structural deficit - the growing gap between spending and tax collections - that has existed since the $1.3 billion Thornton aid to education plan was adopted in 2002 without a funding source. We opposed a special session. Our preference would have been for such a complex proposal to undergo the fullest possible review and for public involvement to be maximized during a 90-day regular session with a budget in hand instead of a shorter-term whirlwind without one. But the governor's argument that waiting until January would put the state $500 million deeper in the hole has some merit as well.

By most measures, Ocean City had a respectable summer for tourism. Tax collections were up slightly and so was sewage discharge (the so-called demoflush measurement of residential outflow being one of the more reliable barometers). Thanks to a strong August, town officials estimate that 4 million people visited the resort between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But Ocean City business leaders tell a different story. The number of summer visitors has stayed mostly static over the past decade and is down in the long term, having peaked at about 4.5 million in the early 1990s.

New state revenue estimates show an uptick in tax collections in January, good news for Maryland officials who had feared that lackluster receipts would force them to deeply cut this year's budget and rethink the spending plan now under debate in Annapolis. Estimates of income, sales and other taxes released by the Bureau of Revenue Estimates this week show state revenues are up by about 2.9 percent for the period running from July through January. The growth rate for July through December had been a percentage point lower, a trend that would have blown a $100 million hole in the current budget if it had kept up for the rest of the fiscal year.

Howard County's surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30 is a record $38 million, county officials announced yesterday, swelled by higher-than-expected income, property and real estate tax collections. County Executive James N. Robey said that the bulk of the surplus -- $30 million -- should go to begin paying a $477 million debt on future retiree health benefits under a change in federal accounting standards that is affecting every state and local government in the United States.

As the regional economy chugs forward, the state of Maryland finished the past budget year with a $1.2 billion surplus, according to figures released by Comptroller William Donald Schaefer yesterday. The final accounting for the 2005 fiscal year, which ended June 30, provides the governor and state lawmakers with the best news they've had since taking office in January 2003. At the time, a financial downturn prompted a state hiring freeze and some program cuts. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s office reaffirmed yesterday that he hoped to return some money to Marylanders through a tax reduction.

Maryland continues to collect less sales and income tax revenues than expected, raising the possibility that the state will end the budget year with a deficit for the first time since 1992. The dour revenue outlook likely will mean that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will cut even deeper into the coming fiscal year's budget, which takes effect on July 1. The administration is already preparing for up to $500 million in reductions to be made in the next several weeks, the first phase in closing a projected $1 billion gap between receipts and expenses.

Maryland finished its last budget year with a smaller surplus than projected because of an anemic stock market that suppressed income tax collections, creating a bigger-than-expected financial problem for the next governor, according to figures released yesterday. Figures from the state comptroller's office show that Gov. Parris N. Glendening or his successor must cut the current state budget, which took effect July 1, because the surplus from the previous year was less than expected. Glendening and state lawmakers planned to use $413 million in leftover funds from the 2002 fiscal year, which ended June 30, to balance the current year's budget.

TOP BOSSES and major shareholders at the late, lame Global Crossing contributed at least $300 million in taxes to the federal budget surplus in 2000, one can deduce from stock-sale disclosures and an awareness of the capital-gains tax rate. Honchos at Internet auctioneer eBay probably paid at least $100 million in capital gains taxes that year. And, all by himself, Microsoft's Bill Gates paid in the neighborhood of $1 billion in stock-sale-related taxes in 2000. Many things about the economy in recent years were not normal.