Tax Increase

Carroll County residents likely will see an increase in the piggyback income tax, beginning this summer, so the county can afford to build eight new schools in the next six years, the county commissioners said yesterday.The tax increase is one way county officials have proposed raising money to handle the school population, which is expected to grow by about 4,100 students to 28,000 students by the year 2000.The county also has proposed initiating a county hotel/motel tax and real estate transfer tax, as well as increasing various county fees.

Maryland's state senators and delegates have their work cut out for them if they are to stop Gov. Martin O'Malley, Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch and their henchmen from raising taxes to pay for increased state spending ("Protest targets planned tax rise," May 14). As Del. Herb McMillan reminded voters in a recent letter to The Sun, the budget they are proposing would increase total state spending from $34.7 billion to $35.3 billion — a $600 million (or 2 percent)

Delegate Richard C. Matthews, R-Carroll, has said he is strongly opposed to any proposed tax increases to offset the ever-expanding operating budget deficits.Budget deficits of $300 million for the current fiscal year and $675 million for the coming fiscal year have beenpredicted by the state's fiscal experts."I believe that we can balance the budget without a tax increase," Matthews said. "It's not going to be easy, but it can be done. Instead oflooking for ways to stick government's hand in the taxpayers' pocket again, we should direct our energies toward redefining and restricting government's role," he said.

The House of Delegates voted 77 to 60 this afternoon to increase income taxes on the top 14 percent of Marylanders, finishing up business left undone when lawmakers gridlocked at the end of the regular session in April. It still needs to be signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, who introduced the legislation. The measure completes a spending package that will undo a so-called Doomsday budget that would have cut into Democratic priorities like education and health care. The tax increase will hit roughly 300,000 taxpayers -- individuals who make more than $100,000 and joint filers who earn over $150,000.

A plan to double Carroll County's impact fee on new home construction is quickly losing its allure as a budget cure-all. While the county commissioners apparently realize that levying a $4,755 fee on each new house won't accomplish as much as they hoped, they are now left with the reality that some type of tax increase will be needed to pay for the public schools, roads and other infrastructure that were neglected during the past few years.During last year's election, a substantially larger impact fee was sold as the remedy for the county's fiscal problems, as well as a means to control growth.

Editor's note: Rising costs, fewer state and federal dollars and falling county revenue have pushed Carroll's deficit over $5 million. The Budget Office has directed all county agencies to cut their budgetsby 1 percent for fiscal 1991, which ends June 30, and by 2 percent for fiscal 1992. . We have been asking readers where cuts should be made, whether taxes should be increased and related questions. Here aresome of the replies we received:From: Charles LindnerWestminsterI do not support any increase in the tax rate for any reason.

Reluctantly, grudgingly, more Maryland business leaders and legislators are beginning to accept the idea that the state might have to raise taxes.J. Glenn Beall, a former U.S. senator who now chairs a business coalition's fiscal policy committee, gave voice to that mood yesterday in his personal assessment of Maryland's budget problems."

Howard County's income tax rates would jump from Maryland's third-lowest to the legal limit while county workers could get a 4 percent pay raise in the $892.4 million budget proposed yesterday by County Executive James N. Robey. Robey's plan represents the largest tax increase by far yet requested by any of Maryland's seven largest jurisdictions, and would cost $521 more per year for a family with the county's median gross household income of $83,100, if it is approved by the County Council.

Carroll legislators told municipal officials last night that they wouldn't support a tax increase even if the money was used to beef up local police protection."

No property tax increase, but a probable 4 percent raise in sewer customers' fees went on the table at a marathon Westminster City Council work session last night on a budget package -- capital, operating and utilities -- of about $11 million.The city staff proposed a 5 percent sewer rate increase, which finance director Stephen V. Dutterer said would translate to about $12 a year for a customer using 18,000 gallons of water per quarter. The council agreed by consensus on a 4 percent increase.

The Maryland Senate passed an income tax increase and a shift of some of the cost of teacher pensions to the counties Tuesday, averting more than $500 million in so-called Doomsday budget cuts that otherwise would have taken effect July 1. On the second day of what is expected to be a three-day special session, the Senate voted 27-19 for the $264 million  tax  package, with the chamber's 12 Republicans and 7 Democrats opposed. The vote on the budget companion measure that includes the teacher pension shift was 33-13.

If the state budget that is to be voted on this week in Annapolis is so important, then why did Gov.Martin O'Malley have the General Assembly spend the first half of the regular legislative session debating and then voting on the same-sex marriage legislation instead of doing "the very important job" (in the governor's words) of the budget? This is a total waste of the taxpayers money. We should stick with the so-called "doomsday" budget. In these hard economic times, we should be looking to reduce spending, not increase it by over $1 billion.

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 carefully choreographed strategy to raise state income taxes to stave off so-called doomsday budget cuts faces a challenge in the General Assembly after several Democrats defied party leaders with a proposal to raise the sales tax instead. The brewing discontent within the Montgomery County House delegation stems from a belief that the governor's plan relies too heavily on their wealthy constituents. And though it faces little chance of passage, the proposal reveals a geographic fissure within the ruling Democratic caucus while underscoring the difficulty of forging consensus on a tax increase.

Anne Arundel County residents would see their property taxes increase under the $1.2 billion budget proposed Monday by County Executive John R. Leopold, but that would be partially offset by a drop in trash pickup frequency and fees. County workers, meanwhile, would see an end to furloughs but receive no raises. Leopold's spending plan for the year that begins July 1 includes boosting the tax rate from 91 cents to 94.1 cents per $100 of assessed value. For a home with an assessed value of $261,200, the forecast countywide average, taxes would go up by about $128 for the year, officials said.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz proposed Thursday a general fund operating budget of about $1.65 billion that includes no tax increases but reduces the number of county employees through attrition. In introducing his spending plan for the 12 months beginning in July, Kamenetz highlighted proposed spending on education and infrastructure, including air conditioning for a dozen schools. His budget proposal, presented during his State of the County address to members of the County Council in Towson, holds taxes flat in part by taking advantage of the projected $21 million in yearly savings expected through voluntary retirements of county employees, he said.

Gov. Martin O'Malley says he still hopes to convince the legislature to raise money for highway and transit projects — possibly by adding another penny to Maryland's six-percent sales tax and dedicating the extra revenue to transportation. In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, O'Malley conceded that his initial proposal to apply the sales tax to gasoline is dead in the General Assembly. But he said an alternative would be a delayed implementation of that proposal, with the sales tax not being applied until gas prices fell to a certain level.

The conservatives in Congress are taking advantage of a semantic convenience when they insist on "no new taxes for anyone. " It is based on the fact that the poorest Americans are excused from paying federal income tax in the first place, due to their small paychecks and/or disproportionately large obligations. But when tax reductions on the middle class and the rich are balanced by curtailment of government services to the needy, as in the recently passed House Republican budget plan, the tax forgiveness to the better-off comes on the backs of the unemployed, underemployed, elderly and children.