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.

I support a reasonable boat registration fee increase, but the most recent request for an increase by the Department of Natural Resources is still way out of line ("DNR seeks smaller rise in boat registration fee," March 14). To go up from $24 to $100 for the most popular size boat will not benefit Maryland. Boat owners already are finding ways to register their boats elsewhere and still boat in Maryland. Instead phasing in a doubling or tripling the current fee, use the Transportation Trust Fund tax paid by boaters on the water into the Waterway Fund in Maryland.

The House of Delegates gave its approval to Gov.Martin O'Malley's proposed state budget last year, along with its version of his decision to shift part of the responsibility for teacher pension costs to county governments, an increase in income taxes and a mandate that counties keep up a minimum level of spending on education. The vote on the budget was 95-43. The tally was mostly along party lines, with Baltimore County Democrats Michael H. Weir Jr. and Joseph J.  "Sonny" Minnick voting against and Garrett County Republican Wendell Beitzel voting for it. The budget reconcililiation act, which included the pension shift, passed 88-50 as a handful of liberal Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measure.

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell staged a little political theater Monday as he attempted to testify against a tax-increase bill and was turned away by the chairwoman of the committee hearing the legislation. The occasion was a hearing on the Senate bill passed last week raising state income taxes. It was, like the hearings on most Senate bills coming over to the House, a sponsors-only event. When O'Donnell tried to follow the panel from the Senate to the witness stand, House Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Sheila E. Hixson promptly ruled O'Donnell out  of order and adjourned the hearing.

From The Aegis of March 19, 1987: It was possible Harford County residents would be facing a property tax rate increase 25 years ago, but they were going to have to wait two more weeks to find out until Harford County Executive Habern Freeman released his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Freeman, who took office in 1982, raised the tax rate his first year in office, then left it the same in the following three at $2.73 per $100 of assessed value. With two weeks to go until his budget for FY 1987-1988 was due to the Harford County Council April 1, Freeman said he was still unsure as to whether he would be seeking an increase.

The wolf has now shed his sheep's clothing. Keeping with traditional politics, Gov. O'Malley has proposed his mid-term huge tax increase package as part of his 2012 budget. It is unconscionable that the governor would propose such an array of significant tax increases during this period of unprecedented economic turmoil that has negatively affected so many Marylanders. From limiting income tax deductions at income levels far lower than President Obama is proposing, to doubling the "flush tax," to adding a 6 percent tax to every gallon of gasoline, as just a few examples, the governor seems really committed to making Maryland Number One!

Has Gov.Martin O'Malley's broad array of tax increase proposals got you bummed out? Cheer up, there's a bright spot. If Mr. O'Malley succeeds in his plan to impose Maryland's 6 percent sales tax on the purchase of gasoline, he will not only boost revenues for long-overdue highway, bridge and mass transit projects but possibly help clean the Chesapeake Bay at the same time - a formula that could work not just in Maryland but in all of the bay...