Tax Reduction

Don summoned the legislators to Annapolis again. He must like them.And now for the important issues, like what school Chelsea will attend, whose dresses Hillary will fill and where Bill will play golf.Bill called an economic summit to tell him how to reconcile campaign pledges about deficit reduction, tax reduction and growth stimulation. No one knows how.If we don't buy French white wine, they will retaliate against our soda pop.Arkansas has the worst public health but now other states can be expected to catch up.

Dan Rodricks ' column, "Voting to give more money to millionaires," (Oct. 21) was right on point. While middle class wages have remained stagnant over the last 20 years, the top 2 percent have seen their incomes triple (with both groups adjusted for inflation). Republicans say higher taxes on the wealthy kill jobs. In 2001, George W. Bush spearheaded the largest tax reduction in U.S. history (overwhelmingly benefiting our wealthiest citizens) and unemployment rates quickly spiked higher and have remained nearly double the Clinton era levels to this day. When were the golden years of U.S. full employment?

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has been offered an unexpected political opportunity by growing resistance among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to passing a tax reduction bill this year. It is a chance to demonstrate the kind of leadership that, opinion polls show, voters have not seen in the president in his first two years in office.A declaration by Clinton against tax reduction now would evoke some predictable criticism, of course. He would be accused of another reversal of position.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer has told Democratic governors that he is considering running for president, but he did not tell them when, according to his spokesman.Word of Schaefer's comments made the rounds throughout yesterday at the winter meeting of the National Governors' Association in Washington, said Paul Schurick, the governor's spokesman. "People were curious. The governor is well-liked among his colleagues."Schaefer's remarks first came at a private breakfast with Democratic governors.

YOU CAN TELL it's an election year when politicians start promising voters oversized tax cuts. That's certainly the case in Washington, where politically ambitious House Republicans pushed through an $80-billion tax reduction plan just five weeks before the November elections.Inequities in the "marriage-penalty" provision of the tax code would be eliminated and individuals with large fortunes (up to $1 million) would be exempt from estate taxes. Big business would catch some breaks, too.But at what price?

WASHINGTON -- The House Republicans have passed a give-away-the-store tax bill that they know full well is going to be drastically cut back by the Senate. But in political terms, whatever happens in the Senate is essentially irrelevant.The opinion polls regularly show that the voters would prefer a serious attempt to reduce the federal deficit rather than tax reduction. They seem to recognize the long-term economic reality that this is precisely the wrong time to be reducing taxes and adding to that debt.

As the Howard County Council considers a proposal to lower a tax on athletic facilities, one councilman promised last night to eliminate the levy.Councilman C. Vernon Gray has proposed legislation that would lower the admission and amusement tax for indoor athletic facilities for tennis, baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball from 7.5 percent of gross receipts to 5 percent.The council is scheduled to vote on that measure, co-sponsored by County Executive Charles I. Ecker, on Nov. 3.At a public hearing on the measure last night, Gray said he fTC wants to eliminate the tax on athletic facilities altogether.

Facing an embarrassment of budget riches, Democratic leaders of the General Assembly are warming to the idea of a tax cut this year. Leaders in the Senate and House of Delegates said yesterday that they would support accelerating the 10 percent income tax cut enacted in 1997 and scheduled to take full effect in 2002. More than half of that cut, 6 percent, has gone into effect. One idea is to have the Assembly make the full 10 percent reduction effective this year, two years early, saving Maryland taxpayers an estimated $310 million over the next two years.

Hundreds of Howard County's retirees are virtually certain to benefit from competing but nearly identical tax reduction plans announced yesterday by rival County Council members. One day before the filing deadline for bills to be introduced next month, Ellicott City Republican Christopher J. Merdon and Guy Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat, revealed their tax reform plans. Both men are expected to run for county executive next year. Merdon and Guzzone each proposed a bill that would defer future property tax increases - interest-free - for people 65 or older or totally disabled who have household incomes below about $75,000.

For Baltimore County residents uncertain about how to spend the $4 they'll save from the County Council's penny cut in the property tax, here's a suggestion: Invest in antacid tablets. They'll come in handy as you try to digest the reasoning behind the council's myopic and blatantly political move.Let council members and County Executive Roger Hayden, who agreed to the action, crow about the gift they're bestowing on taxpayers. Some gift. All it means is that the average property tax bill will rise $27 next year instead of the $31 cited last month in Mr. Hayden's budget proposal.