Tax Package

After declaring a Schaefer administration tax package "dead on arrival" earlier this year, General Assembly leaders now are resuscitating the notion of tax reform. If deliberations proceed on schedule, there could be broad consensus on a tax package to present to the 1992 legislative session.What a change in attitude! The cries of "no more taxes" from legislators have died down, perhaps because of the pounding Maryland's treasury has taken from the recession. House Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller have spent much of the last six months scrambling to balance the state budget, which has been thrown into chaos by the continuing plunge in revenues.

TOKYO -- In a stunning turnabout, Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa today abruptly backed down from a tax package proposed just one day earlier to jump start the flagging economy, as furious political backlash threatened to destroy his ruling coalition.Mr. Hosokawa's reversal on plans to enact a $49 billion tax cut and a new welfare tax to finance it came after hours of fruitless negotiations with the Socialists who had threatened to quit the coalition.It underscored a mounting power struggle within his coalition that seems headed toward sweeping political realignments.

When the General Assembly approved an $11.6 billion budget Monday night, Delegate Patrick C. Scannello was at odds with himself.For 12 years, the Glen Burnie Democrat has opposed the annual state budget because he opposes state financing of abortions.This year -- ironically, the same year the legislature passed a bill guaranteeing a woman's right to abortion -- the economic plight of the needy weighed more heavily on Scannello."There are so many pressing needs out there the way the economy is," he said.

ANNAPOLIS -- After stoking the engine with enough goodies to assure that a full crew would be aboard, the Senate's tax train unexpectedly chugged right off the tracks yesterday, even before it had cleared the station.By a 7-6 vote, the Budget and Taxation Committee killed -- for now, at least -- a bill that would have raised $430 million in new taxes by increasing and expanding the state's 5 percent sales tax, and by increasing taxes on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and long-distance telephone service.

ANNAPOLIS -- A threat by Gov. William Donald Schaefer to veto the General Assembly's budget-balancing tax package got immediate results late last night: A House committee voted to approve a 20- cents-a-pack boost in cigarette taxes that Mr. Schaefer demanded as a means of discouraging smoking.The 15-8 vote by the Ways and Means Committee appeared to clear the way for committee passage todayof a broader, $252 million tax package put together by House leaders to balance next year's state budget.

During the recent special session in Annapolis, it wasn't just Republicans that were fighting tax increases. Democrats, like myself, offered amendments to cut spending rather than raise taxes, and seven of us voted against the tax package. The General Assembly had the audacity to raise taxes, while ending the budget year with a $207 million dollar surplus. That's in addition to the $721 million that was set aside for the rainy day fund. The knee-jerk reaction to raise taxes rather than live within our means shows a blatant disrespect for the business community in this state.

As President Bush taught us so well, the trick is not to read the lips of politicians but to watch what they do. Throughout this dismal session of the General Assembly, the lawmakers in Annapolis have been positively Bushesque in muttering the mantra of "no new taxes." But like the president, and indeed even more than the president because they have to adhere to a balanced budget, they had to renege. And they were right to renege.Now the motto is "yes new taxes."The $89.2 million tax package apparently on the way to passage may be just a down-payment on what the governor and the legislature will have to do next year.

The Latin phrase in the headline above is defined in the dictionary as "without (a) day (being set for meeting again); for an indefinite period [to adjourn an assembly sine die]." That's what the General Assembly finally achieved -- nearly a week late and almost without a budget being enacted.Still, the end result proved satisfactory. With public anger boiling over at the unwillingness of lawmakers to carry out their constitutional responsibilities, the lawmakers got down to work during an unprecedented extended session.

FORGET FOR a minute the higher taxes that will be paid to consume energy, use cell phones and buy property in Baltimore. They were coming. This year's budget go-round produced the kind of lively debate, number-crunching and directed action from the City Council that has been sadly lacking in years past. That's the kind of check on city spending taxpayers should expect, especially in a city where the mayor holds such sway. Council members engaged in a constructive way to review Mayor Martin O'Malley's proposed $2.1 billion budget.

Rep. Kennedy denies drinking in crash WASHINGTON -- Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early yesterday, and a police official said he appeared to be intoxicated. Kennedy, a Democrat from Rhode Island, addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident," he said in a statement. Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed his car into a barrier on Capitol Hill early yesterday morning, said Louis P. Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.