Tax Revenues

As competition heats up between Owings Mills developers, the company that plans to build an upscale shopping center featuring a Wegmans store touted the jobs and tax revenue it said its project at the former Solo Cup site would create. The Foundry Row development would support about 3,100 permanent jobs in Baltimore County and generate $4.8 million in annual local tax revenue, according to an economic impact study commissioned by developers Greenberg Gibbons Commercial. The study by economist Anirban Basu of Sage Policy Group is to be released today.

The Sun's editorial ("A costly breakthrough," March 13) appears right on when it stated: "We cannot escape the fear that senators are seeking to raise more money than is truly necessary to make their [tax] plan work. " One only needs to look at the headlines of The Sun three days later ("Senate votes for tax on rich," March 16) to realize how prophetic the editorial was. The comments of elected officials are focused more on defending taxing the more affluent than the need for the revenue.

Baltimore MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blake's preliminary budget proposal for the next fiscal year displays some encouraging signs that, after three rocky years, city finances are stabilizing. Income tax revenues are ticking slightly upward in conjunction with an improved jobs picture in the city, and some of the mayor's controversial pension reform efforts are beginning to hold down costs. The plan calls for an end to employee furloughs and will result in few layoffs, if any. It even includes a small reduction in homeowners' property taxes.

The Sun's recent article about growlers exposed more of Maryland's regulatory absurdities ("A growing movement to widen growler sales," Feb. 5). "Statewide restrictions limit the sale of growlers to brewpubs ... excluding bars and most restaurants. " If there were no restrictions, wouldn't more good beer be sold and thus increase the tax revenues? Maybe it's time to rethink our prohibitionist system. James Bauernschmidt, Severna Park

Why does the government not understand it is running out of other people's money? Politicians think the answer is not to cut spending but to increase taxes. The state of Maryland subscribes to the same cure. It cranks up the tax on cigarettes saying the higher price will deter people from smoking, but if people actually did stop smoking the state would lose that income. Now the state Transportation Trust Fund needs bolstering, so the government is talking about a 15-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax. Of course the federal CAFE standards call for vehicles to continue to get better mileage, which means less gas will be consumed and tax revenues will continue to decline, prompting calls for even higher taxes.

A panel on growth and wastewater treatment recently recommended tripling the Bay Restoration Fee - known as the "flush tax" - between now and 2015. Good idea. It would raise more than $145 million a year for the Chesapeake Bay. And with a price tag of more than $10 billion on Maryland's Watershed Implementation Plan, we need it. But before we ask residents for another $5 a month, we need to be sure that the money we have now, and the additional money we will have in the future, will be well spent.

In Annapolis, decisions are rarely made by accident. For better or worse, those who labor in the Maryland General Assembly are creatures of politics, so their behavior is predictable: Legislators look out for their districts, leadership rewards those who fall in line, and dissenters are often left with table scraps. Recently, it has come to the public's attention that much of the $47.5 million made available this year for school construction projects by the recent alcohol tax increase is going to schools in districts where senators and delegates supported the tax increase.

Herman Cain is surging. Who is this guy, and how did he come out of virtually nowhere to suddenly lead the Republican presidential primary field? Perhaps Mr. Cain is just a passing fancy, the party's and the pundits' flavor of the month. Although several national polls show him now leading prohibitive favorite Mitt Romney, the conventional wisdom is that Mr. Cain doesn't have the resources, political chops or connections to the Republican establishment needed to capture the nomination.

Maryland's 7.2 percent unemployment rate is below the national average but still too high. Families need help. Aging roads, sewer systems and other infrastructure need repair. Revenue projections for 2012 and beyond will not cover these programs, along with education, health care and public employee pensions, the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute cautions. Budget shortfalls next year could reach $700 million or more, the institute warns. Many of our cities and counties likewise face mounting debt.

Renewed jostling to expand gambling in the state began Wednesday as a national casino operator painted its proposal to build a casino in Prince George's County as good for taxpayers and as Frederick County lawmakers asked constituents if they want slots there. Penn National Gaming, which owns a slots parlor in Cecil County, released economic impact studies that found that slots at its Rosecroft Raceway horse-racing track in Prince George's would generate at least $346 million in tax revenue in the first year of operation.