Tax Proposals

ATLANTA -- With his proposal last week to levy enormous taxes on highly destructive hollow-point handgun ammunition, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan focused the gun-control debate on the chilling, precise world of physics, terminal-wound ballistics and penetration factors.Saying that high-performance bullets, which mushroom upon impact, "have no purpose other than to cause the greatest possible destruction of human life," Mr. Moynihan proposed raising the tax on them by up to 10,000 percent.

A newly minted Republican lawmaker from Frederick County has found a heavy-hitting Democrat to lend support to her proposal to give tax breaks to family farmers: the governor. Del. Kathryn Afzali wants to exempt the heirs who would keep a farm running from estate taxes on the first $5 million of land value. Property valued above that amount would be subject to a 5 percent rate — a steep reduction from the 16 percent now on the books. "Maryland's farmland is shrinking," Afzali told members of the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

The Howard County Council is being asked to take a fresh look at an old - and much-debated - tax issue. A bill prefiled at the request of County Executive Ken Ulman seeks to end the two-tiered fire tax and replace it with a single countywide rate. Howard is the only Maryland county to have two tax rates to fund fire service, Ulman said, and most counties don't levy a separate tax for fire and rescue services, funding them through general revenues. The bill will be formally introduced to the County Council at a legislative session March 5, with a public hearing scheduled for March 19. Ulman said he hopes the measure will be adopted quickly so that it can be part of planning for the next fiscal year's budget.

Former Baltimore County Executive Donald P. Hutchinson is heading a coalition of county labor, business and education groups opposed to the proposed 2 percent cap on property tax revenue increases on the Nov. 6 ballot.Called CARES (Citizens Against Reduction of Essential Services), Hutchinson's group is to work with a statewide organization that hopes to raise $500,000 to fight similar tax cap proposals in Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties.The larger group is led by the Maryland State Teachers Association, which has agreed to lend $250,000 to the effort.

ANNAPOLIS -- A Montgomery County senator wants to set up a 50 percent tax rate -- but only on sales of professional baseball teams for more than $100 million."

Annapolis Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins unveiled yesterday a fiscal 1996 budget that includes a 4-cent cut in the property tax rate, a sharp departure from last year's combination of spending cuts and increases in taxes and fees."

Restoring a historic but antiquated home in Baltimore would be less costly with the help of a tax break being considered by the City Council.In an effort to encourage property owners to invest in historic buildings and older neighborhoods, the council has proposed a 10-year deferral on the increases in tax assessments that result from major renovations."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Republicans' $189 billion tax cut bill last week, sending it to the Senate, where it is expected to receive a cool reception.The centerpiece of the tax bill, which is opposed by the Clinton administration, is a $500-per-child tax credit for children in families earning $200,000 a year or less.The measure also cuts the top capital-gains tax rate on profits from asset sales, expands depreciation write-offs for plants and equipment and rolls back the increased tax on higher-income Social Security recipients enacted in 1993.

Suzi Hollander and Bryan Hancock have learned a lot about the real world of economics and taxes.Until recently, the two high school students were a lot more interested in making sure their grades were up to par and having a good time than talking dollars and cents. But now Suzi and Bryan find themselves debating a county tax referendum they believe will interrupt and limit the quality of their education.If approved by voters Nov. 6, a 4.5-percent cap would be placed on property tax increases.

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.