Taxpayers

County needs help to deal with BRAC The good news about the national military base realignment is that we're getting thousands of new jobs at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The bad news is we're being stuck with the costs of providing infrastructure for tens of thousands of new people. Harford County is trying to shoulder these responsibilities but is being denied the tools needed to do the job. For example, Harford has already forward-funded schools just to keep up with current growth. The state government provides much less than is needed because of its own money issues, we're told.

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led Congress narrowly approved last night the first major tax cut in two decades, then went home to try to sell the sweeping $792 billion measure to their wary constituents before President Clinton can veto it.Acting within hours of each other, the House and Senate passed the bill with only a handful of votes to spare before leaving for a monthlong summer recess."

The signs of change are everywhere: In Westminster, shoppers jam the huge, warehouse-style stores that are springing up on once-quiet streets. North of Bel Air, polo matches are drawing more and more participants. On the Eastern Shore, aging grocery stores are stocking their shelves with pricey organic vegetables and gourmet foods.Families moving to the outer suburbs are fueling a tremendous shift of wealth in the Baltimore region. That shift is fattening tax rolls and creating vast new shopping areas in once-rural counties while leaving older communities gasping for air.The rush of dollars to the outlying suburbs -- where new residents earn, on average, more than those who are moving out -- is staggering.

It's Tuesday night in Papillion, Neb., time for a public hearing on ADT Security Services' plan for a 700-job telephone center in America's heartland.ADT has many demands. It wants a 25 percent, $125,000 discount on the land, which is owned by Papillion, an Omaha suburb. It wants the site rezoned -- the subject of that night's hearing. It wants taxpayers to cover $1 million in street and utilities expenses. It expects millions more from the state in tax credits.And one more thing. ADT wants to stay anonymous.

Internal Revenue Service to hold Problem Solving DayThe Internal Revenue Service will hold a Problem Solving Day for individuals with long-standing tax problems from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at Friendship Valley Elementary School.Individuals can meet with IRS employees to address their tax problems."We want to reach out to taxpayers who have been unable to resolve their problems," said Marie A. Medeck, acting IRS district director for Delaware, Maryland and Washington.Appointments are encouraged; call 800-865-6198.

THE SPIRIT of compromise was absent in Anne Arundel County when the tax cap was debated at the start of this decade.Robert C. Schaeffer and his Anne Arundel Taxpayers Association scolded then-County Executive Robert R. Neall for "bad leadership" during debate on the issue in 1992. "The good guys won," Mr. Schaeffer gloated after the electorate voted in the cap.As the decade winds down, perhaps some welcome conciliation is on the way.During a forum convened last week by the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce to reflect on the tax cap after seven years, Mr. Schaeffer praised the fiscal performance of Mr. Neall and another former county executive, John Gary.

Taxpayers may get free help with their federal and state income tax returns tomorrow at two Baltimore offices.Internal Revenue Service and Maryland comptroller's office personnel will be in the lobby of the State Office Building in the 300 block of W. Preston St. and in the lobby of the Fallon Federal Building in Hopkins Plaza.The service will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the State Office Building and from 8: 30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the federal building.More than 200 taxpayers visited the offices when the service was provided Monday, according to state Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein.

The Internal Revenue Service is offering extended walk-in service at the Fallon Federal Building in Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore and Hanover streets, on Saturdays in March and April.The schedule includes the remaining three Saturdays of this month, April 4 and April 11. The service will be available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.On March 28, April 4 and April 11, IRS employees will assist low-income and elderly taxpayers -- as well as those eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit -- with tax returns.

STATE legislators should not be stampeded into voting for an election-year bill pushed by teacher and state-worker unions that could do Maryland taxpayers irreparable harm. These unions want to boost pensions by as much as 66 percent -- with taxpayers handed a $151 million bill, escalating at 5 percent a year, and a future liability of $2.1 billion.There's no question pensions for teachers and state workers need attention. Changes in Social Security laws have distorted the state's 1979 pension reforms and eroded retirement benefits for 115,000 employees.

WASHINGTON -- The main authors of the bipartisan House bill that promised sweeping changes in the way the Internal Revenue Service treats taxpayers criticized their Senate colleagues yesterday for failing to pass a companion measure in the five months since the House bill's passage.Taking advantage of the April 15 tax deadline, Reps. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Baltimore Democrat, and Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican called on Sen. William V. Roth Jr. , chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to follow their lead.

The first-time homebuyer credit is set to expire in several weeks, and there's a push among those in Congress and the housing industry to extend and even expand the generous credit that gives people as much as $8,000 to buy a house. But no extension should be granted unless Congress and the Internal Revenue Service deal first with issues of fraud surrounding the credit. The Treasury inspector general for tax administration last week reported that the IRS appears to have allowed tens of thousands of ineligible taxpayers - including some 4-year-olds - to claim millions of dollars in homebuyer credits.

Taxpayers would like to believe that their money is being spent well and wisely - but for the most part, they believe it is not. That is why programs like CitiStat and StateStat that measure how efficient and effective government programs are have such appeal to elected officials and taxpayers alike. In Baltimore, Mayor Martin O'Malley created the CitiStat program that relentlessly measured, month after month, how well city services were being delivered, from collecting trash to fixing potholes to treating drug addicts.

Fraud confirms fears of protesters The worst fears of all the citizens who supported the "tea parties" last week have now been realized. We were against the uncontrolled spending and waste of taxpayer dollars by the government. And now the article "Bailout fraud cases emerge" (April 21) describes at least 20 investigations into possible fraud in the use of bailout funds, cases that could cost taxpayers "tens of billions of dollars." We can expect the same waste and fraud if government takes more control over health care, energy policy, etc. Is it any wonder why American taxpayers are rebelling?

EDF buyout may put taxpayers on the hook If Electricite de France rescues Constellation Energy, who will rescue EDF? Among the details of the deal intended to rescue Constellation and usher in the nuclear renaissance EDF has in mind that The Baltimore Sun failed to mention is how EDF and Constellation plan to finance the revival of the nuclear industry. ("French firm EDF charts future in Maryland" Dec. 18). Financing for the $10 billion French-designed reactors EDF plans to build at Calvert Cliffs and several other sites hinges on taxpayer-backed loan guarantees.

Fallible government must end executions As a Goldwater conservative, there is very little that I agree with Gov. Martin O'Malley about. However, I commend him for his avid opposition to capital punishment ("Behind the debate," Nov. 16). There is an unavoidable paradox at the core of capital punishment. The government is supposed to act on behalf of the citizens of the state. Therefore, if the state executes even one innocent person, then all of the citizens of the state become murderers who deserve to be prosecuted.

Slots shift burden to backs of poor I read with drop-jawed astonishment that both Mayor Sheila Dixon and City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake have lent their support to the special-interest fiasco that is the slots referendum ("Dixon supports slots," Oct. 11). Their argument? That slots revenues will allow the city to reduce property taxes. That sounds reasonable enough. But we already know that slots, like the lottery, prey on poorer communities. Study after study shows that the average education level and average per capita income of the most dedicated slots players are far below those of the average Marylander.

Right to give owners chance to catch up In the 1920s, my father and his brother were buyers of commercial property in Baltimore. They were conservative investors. They only purchased property if the bank would lend them 50 percent of the purchase price. There came a time in the early 1930s when they were unable to cover the mortgage payments. The bank threatened foreclosure. Since the balance of the mortgage was larger than the market value of the property, my father and uncle offered the property back to the bank.

'Bailout' is an effort to protect Main Street In "OK, so where's the Boscov bailout?" (Sept. 23), Dan Rodricks once again proves that he just doesn't get it. The government's proposal to buy back bad mortgage debt is not a "bailout" for greedy Wall Street firms that made wrong bets. To the contrary, it is a bold and aggressive action intended to save the entire American economy from the painful contraction that could ensue if the current collapse of confidence in financial markets is allowed to continue unabated.

The Bush administration's proposal to deal with the financial crisis is reminiscent of the resolution Congress passed after the 9/11 attacks, which in effect authorized the administration to respond as it felt best against those responsible for the attacks. And today, as in the immediate post-9/11 context, the administration hopes a national sense of anxiety will force Congress to go along with its plans ("What does it mean?" Sept. 21). But even if there were reason to trust that this administration had the interest of working taxpayers (and those aspiring to work)

Now that American taxpayers are about to set up the biggest-ever vulture investment fund, let's make sure they get the same kind of action as Wall Street's traditional carrion fowl. Vulture investors swoop in where other investors fear to go, providing cash to panicked sellers and keeping shaky markets from falling even further. But they have a price: a large share of the upside when things get back to normal. Washington should demand nothing less from the banking institutions it is about to rescue.