Taxes And Spending

Your recent poll, although unscientific, indicates that a majority of Marylanders are not satisfied with the outcome of this special legislative session ("What Maryland thinks," May 18). If they are not satisfied with the way that their elected officials have voted, then why did they re-elect them? They should know that liberals vote to increase taxes and spending. For them, government is the answer to everything. Maryland voters do this every election - they re-elect the same people and then complain.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget proposes a $1.4 billion increase in spending over last year ("O'Malley offers $37.3 billion plan," Jan. 17). Spending has increased 26 percent since 2008, taxes have been raised 24 times and high-income earners have fled the state due to unfriendly tax policies. Bechtel and Northrop Grumman have moved to Virginia, along with hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now a 15-cent increase in gas tax? Florida, Tennessee and Texas have no income tax, Indiana is calling for a 10 percent tax cut. New Mexico's governor has called for slashing corporate taxes to 4.9 percent.

U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett knocked President Clinton's economic plan last night and said a tax increase won't help to create jobs."There's just no way we're going to help the economy by taking more money out of the private sector where it would create jobs."No tax hike has ever reduced the deficit," said Mr. Bartlett, a freshman Republican from Frederick who represents Maryland's 6th District.He spoke to 13 people at a meeting of the Carroll County Taxpayers Association at the County Office Building in Westminster.

With the fiscal cliff surmounted, at least temporarily, a new Congress sworn in and Republicans licking their self-inflicted wounds, it is tempting to theorize that a new political reality has taken hold in the nation's capital - one where the American economy won't be taken hostage by the House GOP and Washington won't bounce around from one trumped-up crisis to another. The best evidence of this would be the lopsided and bipartisan votes in favor of the final tax package approved by both the House and Senate.

Maybe George Bush is a Republican, maybe he did run his own business, and maybe he does want to treat Wall Street to a cut in the capital gains tax. But among many of the economists who shape the strategies of the nation's banks and investment houses, patience with the president ended with his speech last week.The very highlight of his plan -- offsetting cuts in taxes and spending -- was widely denounced as poison for an economy in a joyless, jobless recovery."Almost every economist would agree that equal cuts in taxes and spending actually depress the economy," said Allen Sinai, chief economist of Boston Co. "It is not a growth program."

WASHINGTON -- Maryland congressional Democrats may be singing the blues after a lobbying group parodied them in song Friday as Congress' biggest spenders, but even the most thrifty Republican from the state could do no better than a "B".The National Taxpayers Union gave all six Maryland Democrats in Congress an "F" letter grade for voting against spending cuts and for tax increases in 1993.In the report, Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski was rated the eighth biggest spender in the Senate, while Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes was 18th.

For General Assembly budget leaders, the next six weeks could be excruciating. As Maryland's deficit widens, the options available to balance the budget -- as required by the state constitution -- become increasingly distasteful. Every possible avenue offering fiscal relief must be pursued.That includes major tax increases and Draconian spending cuts. These are the two extremes on the government's budget pendulum. Legislators would rather avoid both options. But Maryland's fiscal outlook is so bleak that a combination of new taxes and sweeping program cuts might be unavoidable.

THE CATO Institute, a conservative think-tank that believes the only good government is one that cuts taxes and spending simultaneously, has rated the nation's governors. Not surprisingly, our governor, William Donald Schaefer, gets an overall grade of C. Here's why:"Schaefer may have made the biggest mistake of his 40 years in public office two years ago when he rammed a major tax increase through the state legislature. That tax hike included higher income tax rates on the rich, a gas tax increase, an expanded sales tax, and a doubling of the cigarette tax."

ANNAPOLIS -- What does a taxpayer really want?That's the question plaguing lawmakers as they sift through contradictory responses to Gov. William Donald Schaefer's call for higher taxes.Telephone calls to legislative offices and the governor's office in the 24 hours after the State of the State address were overwhelmingly anti-tax, according to staff.But there also were reports that some Marylanders had praised the governor for taking charge of the state's fiscal crisis. They called for support for government programs that could be doomed if taxes are not raised or if drastic cuts are not made elsewhere in the budget.

Paul Tsongas has it just about right when he says the Clinton administration's "Democrats only" approach on taxes and spending has pushed the Republicans into a "negativism" that undercuts the nation's hopes for an effective assault on chronic federal deficits. As House and Senate conferees get down to the business of producing an economic plan before their early-August recess, the signs of a disconnect from budget realities are all around.GOP legislators, who have effectively opted out by unanimously opposing anything any Democrat has concocted, are now seizing on the flimsiest of evidence to claim the deficit problem is not as bad as the White House projects.

Your recent poll, although unscientific, indicates that a majority of Marylanders are not satisfied with the outcome of this special legislative session ("What Maryland thinks," May 18). If they are not satisfied with the way that their elected officials have voted, then why did they re-elect them? They should know that liberals vote to increase taxes and spending. For them, government is the answer to everything. Maryland voters do this every election - they re-elect the same people and then complain.

There is just no end to Gov.Martin O'Malley's tax-and-spend program. Recently, he indicated that he will propose a 6 percent sales tax on all wholesale gasoline purchases. His excuse now is that wants to use the money for transportation projects. As the price of gasoline is likely to surge toward $5 per gallon this summer, there just is no relief in sight. This makes it the second time that Mr. O'Malley has proposed a major tax increase this year, as he floated the idea of raising the retail sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent on the opening day of the General Assembly session.

Regarding your story on the legislative session that opens this week ("Big 'to do' list in Annapolis," Jan. 9): You gotta love House Speaker Michael Busch: He's so tenured, so entrenched and so oblivious to the nonsensicality of his own words when he says things like "I'm going to pass a tax increase," and "we're going to put people back to work. " His is a truly warped understanding of how a free market economy is supposed to function. To think that by taking ever more money from citizens the government can engineer sustainable economic growth is both presumptuous and doomed to failure.

It is good to see a Democrat - Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot - who does not pay homage to the tax and spend (as much as they can get away with) economic philosophy of the left ("Franchot drifts right," Dec. 26). Hopefully, he is keeping our alabaster nanny, Gov. Martin O'Malley, awake at nights. Common sense (and not political vote buying) has to prevail at some point. Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville

It's not surprising The Sun stands with the Democrats' proposal to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit by imposing a $1 trillion tax increase ("Next, the voters' turn," Nov. 23). But to claim, as you do, that the public agrees with this never-ending tax-and-spend policy is proof of how far the newspaper will go to prop up the Democrats. Your claim that President Obama and the Democrats on the supercommittee offered up plans in line with the Bowles-Simpson commission is totally baseless.

Shame on Gov, Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly for talking about raising taxes and fees during a major recession. With gas prices hovering around $3.50 per gallon, we don't need any more burdens placed on us. It appears the only way Maryland residents and businesses can escape the clutches of tax-and-spend Democrats is to vote with their feet and move to a more fiscally friendly state. John A. Malagrin, Baltimore

WASHINGTON - For the past three years, the federal budget surplus has been a sketch pad for the dreams of politicians, promising progress on an array of initiatives by both parties. But substantial portions of the projected surplus have been set aside, first for reducing the national debt and then for the tax cut that Congress is sending to President Bush. When the price tags of all the additional programs planned by one party or the other or both are tallied, a funny thing turns out to have happened to the surplus: Before it materializes, it has been largely parceled out. Doubt remains whether the windfall will appear as forecast, especially given the shaky state of the economy.

ANOTHER election year is just around the corner, so here's a piece of advice that candidates for dogcatcher or president would do well to observe: Be careful what you promise. It could come back to haunt you.Remember George Bush in 1988, boldly telling the voters, "Read my lips"? There would be no tax increase while he was president. But taxes went up after two years, and the federal deficit never stopped rising.Remember Gov. Jim Florio of New Jersey, who as a Democratic candidate in 1989 said he saw no necessity for raising taxes?

I am fed up with the over the top criticism the tea party congressmen have been getting from members of the Obama Administration, Democrats in the Senate and the House, liberal pundits, and even from the inside the beltway Republicans who don't appreciate the fact that if it were not for the tea party freshmen class in the House, the Democrats would have remained the majority party. Vice President Joe Biden most recently called the tea party members of Congress "terrorists. " Other liberals have labeled tea party advocates as stupid or dangerous.

Picking up the newspaper recently, I've noticed that the same topics seem to be dominating most of the local headlines: in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, higher tolls, gay marriage, state workers forced to pay union dues, crime at theInner Harbor. But the topic that affects all Marylanders the most - the state's shaky economy and resulting business and job losses - doesn't seem to be garnering the attention it deserves. About a month ago, The Sun's Jamie Smith Hopkins reported that Maryland ranked last in the nation in job creation - 50th out of 50 states, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.