From Del. Glen Glass:
Thank you for your support !
After many tough decisions, the hardest yet is the hotel tax legislation, which I’ve opposed. Many Republicans support it: County Executive David Craig, Senator Jacobs, Delegate Impalaria, Mayor Dougherty. Noted in the Aberdeen Patch, 11/7/11 (matt.markowitz@patch.com, Editor Markowitz) Patrick McGrady former Mayoral candidate and Tea Party organizer supported it.
My constituent’s needs come first, so I did my research.
Some facts:
1. It’s not a tax on Harford citizens/hotels.
2. Businesses/hotel owners want it.
3. Harford is the only County without one.
4. At least 75% would go toward local tourism. Every dollar spent on tourism generates $28 in economic activity. Two million spent on local tourism brings $56 million/year to local economy, $560 million/ten years.
5. Harford Countians are for it.
6. Our citizens pay hotel fees when visiting other counties/states.
7. Annapolis’ Democrat leadership isn’t helping us, they eat cake, we eat crumbs. Municipalities: Aberdeen, Havre de Grace and BelAir need help – 95% of the highway user fund and other support was taken away and given to the General Fund.
Harford County has the Chesapeake Bay, Bush River, Ripken Stadium, parks, restaurants and great people and an unfair trade agreement, so I’ve decided to support a bill enabling the County Council to decide this issue – not Annapolis. I’ll offer an amendment giving a portion to the homeless and 75% to local tourism promoting our County, helping businesses and creating jobs.
I’m honored to be your Delegate & Servant,
Glen Glen.Glass@house.state.md.us or 410-841-3280
is it a fee or a tax?
Here is the message from Glen’s campaign page:
How can anybody trust somebody who says they want to reduce taxes on small businesses, and then supports a tax increase on those same small businesses?
Elected on the following platform
Lower Taxes
Repeal the 2007 20% sales tax increase. This huge tax increase costs the average family around $3,174 a year according to a 2007 Ernst & Young quantitative study. The sales tax increase will cost Maryland 17,000 job losses by 2017.
Balance the budget without raising taxes on working families and seniors.
Most Marylanders work for small businesses. I will cut taxes on small business and support small business growth.
It’s a tax passed on to people staying in hotels. Doesn’t affect us in the least. So the Holiday Inn in Aberdeen (for example) would now charge $91.00 for a room vs. $89.00. Those rates are not the actual rates but merely to illustrate my point.
So he is against taxes on small buisnesses but is OK with them if they can be passed on to the consumer?
That’s it in a nutshell, along with the provision that he does not want to be held responsible/accountable for promoting this tax, so he would like the County Council to be the deciding body.
It’s a tax and since the politicians in Annapolis wanna raise the sales tax and gas tax. Gotta love them who don’t care about the average citizen.
Glen seems to be incoherent and lost. Is he a republican or a democrat?
I don’t believe Del. Glass was elected on the basis of his political party affiliation. The fact that he (a registered Republican) was elected in precincts where Democrats outnumber Republicans indicates that the voters thought he would listen to them and work hard on their behalf. You cannot deny that he demonstrated great tenacity in his years long effort to get elected. I think that is a quality the voters recognized and appreciate. Plus he is one on the nicest and most sincere people (a quality most do not associate with politicians who frequently have inflated egos and place their own interests above that of their constituents) you will ever meet.
Are you working for him? He may be a nice guy, BUT we don’t need nice guys in politics to not know what his is doing. This is the same guy who sent us the year end letter about having a body guard?
I heard Glen has homeless encampment next to his house? Does he want the hotel tax proceeds to fund his homeless encampment?
I am not affiliated with Del. Glass. Actually, having a few more nice/decent people as our elected representatives would improve things. Or would you prefer that we continue to send the usual crop of self-serving, conniving, and cynical people to Bel Air, Annapolis, and Washington?
We need nice caring people that will support the poor and needy, not the top 1%. Glen is thankfully not an evil conservative.
@PROUD My comments were intended to describe certain (most) politicians, whether they are identified as conservatives or liberals.
It’s funny that you want to make everything a R or D issue. When Harford County citizens visit other counties and pay a room tax, I don’t recall that being a Rep. tax, or a Dem. tax. It is however a tax that helps the citizens in that county with their budjet needs. What help are Harford County citizens getting when travelers visit our county? Everyone is trying to pay their bills and raise their families, Reps. and Dems. We all need help. I am glad to see that we have a Delegate that looks at ways to help US, and not just PARTY.
IT’S ABOUT TIME !!!!!!!!!
Sounds good … in theory. How long will it take before some politician “re-directs” this money toward some sort of political pet project instead of the use it was intended for???
If history is a good indicator, not long.
Delegate Glen Glass is the only Republican I know who fights on behalf of the 99%. Way to go Glen! Down with the 1%…
Maybe we can get him to an Occupy Bel Air or Annapolis event?
So the 1 percent don’t have to help with his homeless people eating in his office. You need to broaden your republican friends. There are a lot of other republicans and democrats who work for the people instead of themselves. So should we assume that you are advocating taking the money from the 1 percent and making them poor?
The 1% do not pay their fair share of taxes and we should Occupy and Liberate their bank accounts. Just think what would be if we unleash and spread wealth of the 1% to the 99%? We would have no more poor and needy.
sure you would, no one would want to work hard to be the 1%. Everyone will be looking for a handout. It would be nice if the socialist would come back to reality!
Proud to be More Liberal would have us believe that the 1% should give up their wealth for the benefit of all the poor and needy. Liberate their bank accounts Proud says. This is the cry of the Occupy movement who by and large feel that they are somehow owed money from the most wealthy of Americans. One wonders if Proud really believes that Congress is willing to create laws which would enable that to happen. The list below is the top 15 members of congress by wealth. Those persons who Proud feels should have their bank accounts liberated. I have listed them from number one through fifteen.
Michael McCaul R/TX
Darrell Issa R/CA
John Kerry D/MA
Jane Harmon D/CA
Jay Rockfeller D/WV
Mark Warner D/VA
James Polis D/CO
Frank Lautenberg D/NJ
Richard Blumenthal D/CN
Diane Feinstein D/CA
Vern Buchanan R/FL
Jim Renacci R/OH
Nancy Pelosi D/CA
Rick Berg R/ND
Bob Corker R/TN
What does the above list prove, other than the Democrats outnumber the Republicans 9 to 6? Nothing really, except that Proud wants to liberate the bank accounts of many members of congress, including the President and Vice President, and somehow believes that such a thing might occur. Actually, 261 members (49%) of congress are millionaires, with many more members having wealth above the $380,000 family household wealth, which according to the US Census and IRS, places a family into the top 1% of wealthy in America. Well, more power to you Proud. If you can get Pelosi and Kerry to start passing out their personal money from their bank accounts to the people of Bel Air and Aberdeen, then you will get a sincere “AttaBoy” from me.
The 1% need the 99% wealth redistributed by any means possible.
Yes we deserve the 1% wealth.
Why the need for the amendment to support the homeless? You were elected to be the voice of the constituents. Did they ask you to have this bill benefit the homeless? I’m not against helping out those less fortunate, but when does it come time for the people who play by the rules to be rewarded. We need this tax as is. We don’t need it to benefit the homeless. If you don’t pay your mortgage the government will help you. If you get addicted to drugs and alcohol, the government will help, if you loose you’re job you can make a living collecting unemployment forever, if you can’t afford medical insurance the government will help. I could go on and on. Now if you pay your mortgage on time, keep your job, pay all your bills, don’t get addicted to drugs and basically are a productive member of society, you get nothing accept a big tax bill. My wife and I are in our 40’s, homeowners, and no children. We each make decent money, but are by no means rich. Would you like to see what we have to pay in taxes each year Mr. Glass? No big tax refunds to this couple every year. Its time the government starts taking care of those that a footing the bill for these great programs to help the “less fortunate”. Do the other counties have a portion of their hotel tax going to the homeless? Stop trying to add crap to the bill and support it as is. This state and county is out of control on taxes, and its time to fix it. Once you get that taken care of then go concentrate on the homeless Mr. Glass!
Why doesn’t the delegation look at legislation that will actually help our county. Why not raise the transfer fee on existing and new homes and have the Council do away with the impact fee on new construction. Which in this difficult market deters new home construction and badly needed trade jobs instead of imposing a tax on an industry which will be hurt by $5.00 a gallon gas and an additional 15 cent tax O’Malley wants to impose. At least the transfer fee money goes to schools and open space not frigging Ripken Stadium. Last I heard Cal was a part of the 1% Mr Proud and Delegate Glass, why not make his 1% your mission and leave us poor people alone.
We must level the playing field and cause equal outcomes by redistribution of wealth.
Let me know when Pelosi and Kerry are going to be in town handing out their millions. Do you think there will be any left after you get your share?
Glen,
before you spend too much time and energy on “…so I’ve decided to support a bill enabling the County Council to decide this issue – not Annapolis…,” please focus on other issues that matter to Harford County voters more than a hotel tax: FIX OUR ROADS! Route 22 and 543 must be widened from I95 to where they meet. These roads are inadequate for the current traffic flow.
Please look into this, and while you are at it, invite your elected friends to carpool with you on these roads during rush hour.
Thanks.
Why should a hotel tax go toward the homeless? I mean, I can understand it going to tourism, I could understand it going toward affordable housing, but to the homeless? There is a big difference between the working poor and the homeless.
Also, Glen’s argument is that this needs to be decided by the local county and not the State, which is a good principle of solid conservatism, decisions made at the local level. I would assume this means that Glen would vote to give the County Council the ability to raise the transfer tax, special taxing districts, or any other tax that they would want to raise at the local level following this same line of thinking.