Tax Money

America was built on the ideas that one could work hard, sacrifice and save, to have a better life. I worked hard for years and years in school, I sacrificed and saved, and now I wake up early every weekday and many weekends to go to work, where I provide services to the public at a very high price to myself, and often to the recipients of my services. As our lawmakers embark upon the first day of this special session, I wish to call to their minds the very purpose of their being there: to formulate laws.

The Howard County Parks and Recreation brochure needs to get to Howard County residents. A few years ago, Howard County residents got the brochure delivered to their home. Now, that is not the case. There were so many wonderful programs and trips, and I used to brag to my friends in other counties about this. Now, many of the trips, and I'm not sure about the programs, are canceled for lack of participation. A friend of mine in another county gets the brochure, so I do know about the activities.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to make a personal, perhaps quixotic pitch Wednesday for what could be the least popular proposal in Annapolis this year: raising the tax on gasoline. The governor is scheduled to testify before House and Senate committees on behalf of his $613 million-a-year plan to apply the state's 6 percent sales tax to gas so Maryland can start spending hundreds of millions of dollars on backlogged road and transit projects. It won't be an easy sale, and O'Malley knows it. Gas prices have been rising in recent months, and some forecasters predict that they could exceed $4 a gallon within weeks.

That Aberdeen and Havre de Grace are to receive $170,000 in Community Legacy Program grants from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development seems like a positive development on first glance. A closer look, however, reveals a bit of state government spending that is discretionary, at best, in a time when the state government is moving in the direction of jacking up taxes on gasoline and any number of other things. The City of Aberdeen is to receive $50,000 which is to be used to help pay for improvements to the facades of businesses in the downtown district.

When the General Assembly increased the state's  alcohol tax last year for the first time in decades, proponents fought to have the proceeds directed to health programs. They didn't get their wish the first year, when most of the money went for school construction, but this appears to be their year. Gov.Martin O'Malleyhas proposed $64 million in health programs this year that his administration has identified as having been funded by the alcohol tax. Last year, only $15 million went for such programs -- all directed to developmental disabilities.

It seems in Maryland politics, there are occasional issues that linger beyond their usefulness. Back when I was a kid, well into my teens and possibly even later than that, Maryland was the only state that didn't require dump trucks to cover their loads. It's a basic safety issue. When a truck hauling loose materials like gravel, or sand or salt or whatever is cruising along a roadway at 35 to 55 mph, there's a possibility of spillage. This can be substantially reduced by covering a dump truck full of whatever with a heavy tarp.

A week before Christmas and the first thing I read in the Sunday paper is a story about our county officials' sweetheart deal on their government pensions. One who makes $180,000 a year can collect $111,000 in pension. I am offended by this. Also, a school principal is earning over $100,000 when a policeman who risks his life every day has a starting salary of $37,000 a year. I won't even mention the minimum wage earners and unemployed. Judging by all the fraud taking place in every level of government, our tax money is again being misused.

As a career federal employee who has served alongside the military in Iraq, I stoically but willingly accepted a two-year freeze on cost-of-living increases as part of my contribution to at least slowing the pace of the current spending spree in Washington. With all the finger-pointing that's taken place over the past few weeks, one fact that has emerged is the fact that this President and the Democrats in Congress were willing to shut down the federal establishment and furlough me and hundreds of thousands of other federal workers in order to maintain the steady flow of my tax money to the likes of Planned Parenthood.

Two issues that Republicans in Congress claim to care a great deal about are lowering the national deficit and reducing abortions. As a means of achieving these goals, they are intent on eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood and its family planning services provided under the Title X program, which has been helping individuals and families of low to moderate income since 1970. If Republicans are successful in excluding these funds from the final federal budget l, the results would most likely be the opposite of conservative's goals.

I was surprised at the number of readers who wrote in to show their dismay at a bill that would give children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition at Maryland colleges. One reader went as far as to compare Maryland state lawmakers to Charlie Sheen. There were some readers who wrote in saying that we should "deport" these people instead of educate them. Others simply said they were criminals on whom we should not be spending any of our tax money. The apprehension these authors displayed is more of a testament to their intolerance than to their political leaning.