From Sen. Nancy Jacobs:
In this year’s legislative session, lawmakers will address many issues that will affect all Marylanders, especially when it comes to their pocketbooks. I am working hard in Annapolis to represent your interests and try to prevent any further financial burden on your daily lives.
Earlier this week, Governor O’Malley proposed his 2013 budget, which increases both spending and taxes. He proposes to increase the gas tax by as much as 15 cents a gallon. An independent Gonzales Research poll found that 76% of Marylanders oppose the increase, and 62% strongly oppose it. This proposed tax hike demonstrates just how out of touch the liberals in Annapolis are with the people they are supposed to represent.
For many Marylanders, times are tough. All over the state, people struggle to make ends meet. They are out of work. They are fighting to keep their homes. As we all struggle to stay afloat, an increase in the gas tax is the last thing we need.
As Maryland families tighten their belts, the government should be doing the same. But instead to fill any budget shortfall, O’Malley has raided the Transportation Trust Fund as if it were his own personal piggy bank. Transportation Trust Funds are supposed to be dedicated to building and repairing our highways, yet they’ve been used instead to fuel the Democrats’ bad spending habits. Since the Glendening administration, over one billion dollars has been taken from the Transportation Trust Fund and never repaid, even though Maryland law prohibits it.
That is why, as I fight against the gas tax increase, I am also sponsoring a bill to repay the Transportation Trust Fund. If it passes, in years that the budget has a surplus, the Transportation Trust Fund would be reimbursed up to $50 million. This money would go back to local areas and maintaining our highways.
I believe firmly that, to prosper, Maryland must be business-friendly. Private business, especially small business, creates jobs with innovation. This year, I am introducing a bill to make our often burdensome business regulations more transparent. It requires government agencies to publish proposed regulations online for comment. Any business owner could go online to see and fight regulations that may hurt their company. Greater transparency could help small businesses avoid unnecessary regulation and foster entrepreneurship and job growth in Maryland.
While I am committed to protecting small business, I have also always fought to protect children. The Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association named me Senator of the year and have endorsed two of my child related bills this year.
In light of the Penn State child abuse scandal, I am sponsoring a bill that will give Maryland’s child abuse reporting laws teeth. Currently, Maryland is one of just three states that have no penalty for failing to report child abuse. My bill will give our child abuse reporting laws real consequences.
I am also sponsoring a bill to make it a crime for parents or guardians to not report that their child has died or is missing. The Casey Anthony trial last year showed us there is a loophole in Maryland’s law that, like Florida’s, must be fixed.
So whether it is protecting our children, helping small business to create jobs, repaying the Transportation Trust Fund, or fighting the gas tax hike, I am hard at work representing you in Annapolis. With your support, we can defeat big government and make a better Maryland.
Why is that the Democrats only know taxing and spending? We see the same thing in Washington and that is driving this country into bankruptcy. The money that goes into the state and federal coffers comes from us, and we should have a say in how its spent. Unfortunately, the government has made so many people dependent that they are willing to continue to take the handouts and demand more. My thanks goes out to those lawmakers willing to take a stand and fight for what is right as I have yet to see a Democrat who is willing to propose sensible laws to fight abuse. It all boils down to votes. If they hand out enough to the citizens, they will continue to vote them into office to get more. Eventually it will come crashing down as the taxpayers will either revolt or quit working.
I agree 100%. If the people paying the tab get up and leave, then what?
Thank you Sen. Jacobs for standing up for the little guy. It has to be tough working in the la-la land that is the General Assembly. Keep up the good work and maybe we can right the sinking ship that is the state of MD.
The very last thing that Senator Jacobs knows how to do is ‘stand up for the little guy’; modern Republicans have long since forgotten how to do that. The gas tax however does tend to be mighty regressive. That is why the best thing to do in our current budget situation is raise taxes on wealthier individuals. Posting that all Dems know to do is tax and spend is foolish – all any government can do is tax and spend. All representatives are tax and spend. Reality is that we NEED the spending – governments that do not spend tax money for public good are called third world governments. Harford County and MD do not have much waste in spending; we do have great roads, schools, police departments, fire protection, libraries, and parks-n-rec. To maintain our greatness in these areas we must find increases in revenue. To cut spending on these programs makes Maryland a less-great place to live. I for one am willing to spend extra on taxes to assure that our state maintains its status as one of the best places to live in the United States.
To follow up about Sen. Jacobs, she is against this tax not because it is regressive, but because she knows that to keep the Tea Party happy she must come out against all taxes at all times, whether or not they are in the best interest of the people she represents. Case in point: hotel tax. An increase in revenue that has no negative impact on any Harford County citizen – in fact has countless positive impacts – but she will not support them because of feared retribution from Tea Party people. I do not call such things ‘standing up for the little guy’, rather this is just pure gutless representation. She refuses to do what is right when her political backers do not support the right decision…
What do you consider wealthy? Why is the President cutting our military and defense spending? There is so much fat in budgets that could be cut without raising taxes. How has spending money helped our economy? Obama has spent money like a drunken sailor and we are still in a mess. I am so tired of this tax the rich crap . Wall Street is getting dumped on by this administration and the people of this country are too dumb to know that the politicians gave Wall Street the license to screw us. Obama is not serious about reform of Wall Street, he needs them to get back into the White House. All I hear from democrats is that they are fighting for the middle class. Yet, the taxes hit the middle class the most. Obama is destroying the middle class. He flies around the world, plays 90 rounds of golf and then says we need to live within our means. He can’t even get a budget to congress yet I am to pay more taxes for this idiot to spend it. Democrats are good at spending other peoples money, not their own.
Correction to my post, both parties are good at spending other peoples money. Republican democrat both are corrupt.
Retiredcop,
You should stop insulting Drunken Sailors. Although drunk, they spend their money more wisely than President Obama!
The honest debate begins when we start analyzing what we would cut absent new revenues. One side will insist that teachers, policemen, firemen, and emergency helicopters will be the first things to go. And somehow, that can’t be true. And yet, I’m not sure what specifically “my side” would cut or cap. That’s the part I’m interested in hearing about next. Ultimately, all decisions are tradeoffs. Here’s hoping there’s a group of adults in Annapolis somewhere who is capable of having the responsible, honest discussion…
Most taxes are a percentage of value or income. Property tax is a percentage of the assessed value of your home, income tax is a percentage of your earnings, and sales tax is a percentage of your purchases.
In good times, properties increase in value, people earn more, and therefore spend more.
In hard times, property values decrease, income reduces, and people don’t spend. The ultimate effect is that there is less value, income and purchases to tax, leaving government with a commensurately reduced income.
Common sense dictates that government mirrors the state of the economy, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Even in lean years taxation increases, either by the “adjustment” of existing taxes, or the introduction of a new tax.
Currently government (city, county, state and federal) are all attempting to maintain the status quo, by discovering new sources of revenue or increasing existing taxes.
I’m sorry, but this is foolhardy and unacceptable. Excessive taxation is one of the primary causes of bankruptcy, personal and corporate. As personal or corporate income has reduced, or at best stayed static, government has, step by step, increased their claims on our revenue.
The proposed fuel tax increase, the proposed sales tax increase, and the suggested sewer tax increase are current examples of our government quietly plundering our purses.
The ultimate effect will be more people unemployed, more demands on the social resources of the state, and more businesses and millionaires moving out of Maryland.
We actually need to reverse the trend: A decrease in taxation would increase the disposable income of the people, thereby enhancing their purchasing power, and ultimate increasing the gross domestic product statistics. It would also allow corporations to employ more people, hold more inventory, and produce more goods.
Ah, but if Nancy is against raising the gasoline tax then automatically an increase in the gas tax must be a good thing. Why, because we all know that anything and everything that Nancy opposes are good things and anything/everything she supports are all bad things. Why? Well because it is Nancy. Right, PROUDDEMOCRAT? Nancy is not a Dem/Lib so she must be opposed at every turn.
The truth is that an increase in the gas tax hurts the very people that the Dem/Libs say they want to help. An inconvenient truth.
PROUDDEMOCRAT, I have a friend who is a single mom living in Edgewood struggling to pay her rent and put food on the table and gas in her car so she can go to work and support her family. She doesn’t have any idea how she can spend more money for gas and is frightened of the price of gas going up even at today’s tax rate. You and your Dem/Lib friends could care less. You SAY you care but in reality you are just flipping her the bird so you can continue tax and spend and tax and spend and tax and spend. Shame on all of you.
Which is all fine an good if we’re cutting enough spending to keep the budget balanced. Saddling future generations with odious debt is a sure-fire way of ensuring long-term economic stagnation by siphoning off “the fruits of our labor” for debt service instead of growth and prosperity. So what do we cut? Social services? Infrastructure? Education? Emergency services? Environment? Prisons? Open space? Pensions? And there is no easy answer. In those situations, leaders establish bi-partisan working groups and put everything on the table so that everyone ends up equally mad. Equal anger equals success.
Which is all fine and good if we’re cutting enough spending to keep the budget balanced. Saddling future generations with odious debt is a sure-fire way of ensuring long-term economic stagnation by siphoning off “the fruits of our labor” for debt service instead of growth and prosperity. So what do we cut? Social services? Infrastructure? Education? Emergency services? Environment? Prisons? Open space? Pensions? There is no easy answer. In these situations, leaders convene bi-partisan groups for universal buy-in and put everything on the table. They’re done when everyone goes home equally mad. Equal anger equals success.