From Del. Glen Glass:
Yesterday a group of Freshman Republican House members released the findings of a recent statewide Gonzales poll showing 96% of Marylanders, both Republicans and Democrats, believe they pay too much (66%), or the right amount of taxes (33%), – with only 4% feeling they pay too little in taxes.
In a press conference with other GOP Freshman yesterday, Delegate Glass said the residents of Harford County pay too much in taxes. This economy has everyone struggling to just get by and now O’Malley is asking the citizens to pay even more out in taxes. The cost of gas is so high and now they want to tax that more. The cost of electric and gas bills have doubled andfood costs are higher but…it’s just more taxes! Taxes to cover things like the Transportation Fund that was already paid for but because it was raided, now needs to be replenished. Millionaires are now anyone making $100,000 or more.
We need to have mercy on the working people who are just getting by and don’t have any extra money to pay the taxes.
The 15 House GOP Freshmen are solidly unified behind this message!
How is this news in this state?
How has this guy not cut one of his hands off in a lawnmower???
In other news just 94%of Marylanders say that up is not down.
The governor now wants a 6% tax on digital downloads. He still does not get it. Lowering taxes creates more revenue.
Don’t forget that the “digital tax” also applies to “use of web forums and blogs” as the bill is written.
I’m not sure how you can TAX something that exists without sales (unless of course the blog / forum owner makes money from subscriptions and ad sales) and that of which is a 1st Amendment, protected right?
This governor would tax everything that isn’t nailed down. Then he’d tax the nails double or triple to prevent you from nailing anything down!
guess it’s a good thing we don’t do everything by referendum. i agree that taxing things like fuel and food too much is unduly harsh on those with middle and lower incomes but since a rise in income tax, which i would be glad to pay, is out the question what are our options? the reason we have good roads and schools in this state is because we pay for them.
C,
Why is raising state income tax out of the question?
Perhaps if gasoline taxes rise enough people will stop driving those huge gas hogs that are so popular in Harford that pollute our roads and air.
Yes, then we can drive electric cars with those nice safe environmentally sound lithium batteries. Their more toxic than the internal combustion engine ever was. I swear I think all liberals do in there spare time is smoke pot, worship puppy dogs and unicorns and sing Kumbaya
PTBL has actually got it right. If you look at PlanMD, Agenda 21 and other smart growth programs, much of the policy is directed at making personal transportation a thing of the past. This is behind the movement to push populations into densely packed urban areas. Auto use is seen as the major culprit in increased CO2 emissions. Eliminating auto use supposedly will cure the problem as well as many other evils. Unfortunately, the science (social and physical) behind these assumptions is often flawed. An excellent conference, organized by the County Commissioner in Carrol laid much of this out for the elected officials involved in local land use issues. I believe Harford County had 2 reps on hand so this info should be familiar to them. Certainly, making auto use too expensive for the average family would help acheive that goal. Remember Barrak Hussein Obama’s comment about energy cost “nessecarily rising” under his energy program? This is not a byproduct but actually the intent. Be afraid, be very afraid!!!!!
Proud,
The problem is that you are employing circular logic. If high taxes on items reduce the use, therefore the revenue generated from its use will dry up also. That drop in revenue leaves you in teh same scenario you started = too little income to cover your costs (in this case government).
The simple truth is that this governor asked for more taxes some years ago to close all the spending gaps in the state. He got what he asked for. A couple years later his spending habits have increased and with it the need to generate more income (taxes). In other words, classic tax and spend policies.
The simple truth is that he has failed miserably in managing the public’s money – period. He has not made one sacrificial spending cut in the state budget his entire tenure.
Add to that the gerrymandered districts that he and his cronies employ to keep Maryland a one party state – there is little hope in sight.
I’m fine paying mroe in taxes if I knew that the money was being spent wisely. However, when it is being channeled to law breakers and others who are not contributing on iota to soceity as a whole – I’ll be stingy with what they want to take from me.
For the record, I’m not a Republican.
Proud,
The problem is that you are employing circular logic. If high taxes on items reduce the use, therefore the revenue generated from its use will dry up also. That drop in revenue leaves you in teh same scenario you started = too little income to cover your costs (in this case government).
The simple truth is that this governor asked for more taxes some years ago to close all the spending gaps in the state. He got what he asked for. A couple years later his spending habits have increased and with it the need to generate more income (taxes). In other words, classic tax and spend policies.
The simple truth is that he has failed miserably in managing the public’s money – period. He has not made one sacrificial spending cut in the state budget his entire tenure.
Add to that the gerrymandered districts that he and his cronies employ to keep Maryland a one party state – there is little hope in sight.
I’m fine paying more in taxes if I knew that the money was being spent wisely. However, when it is being channeled to law breakers and others who are not contributing on iota to soceity as a whole – I’ll be stingy with what they want to take from me.
For the record, I’m not a Republican.
The problem is that there is NEVER enough tax money coming in because the politicians ( in this state the dems) ALWAYS spend lots more then they take in. That’s why we’re billions in the red. Ask yourselves what happened to the billions in tobacco settlement money. Where did the multi billions in lottery money go? How about the largest tax increase in history in 2007 which was supposed to cure the structural deficit for good? Where do the millions per month in slots money go? As long as we keep putting the same tax and spend buffoons back in office we can expect this every year.
you’ve all pretty much nailed it: Governor O’Malley has made 0 cuts, spends more, and taxes more. It’s a power issue with him; the more he taxes his ‘subjects’, the more power and control he has over us.
A few of you have mentioned a willingness to pay more income tax if only you could be sure it would be ‘well spent’. I can only shake my head at that idea. Every additional dollar we pay in taxes is an additional dollar of slavery to the government. The idea that a politician can spend my money better than I can is obsurd.
Proud obviously rides his bike to work, thus his desire to eliminate personal automobiles. When I drive past him, I’ll aim for the puddles and splash him. Just kidding about that last part.
So far this session, O’Malley has floated increasing the sales tax, taxing non-cigarette tobacco at higher rates, capping my mortgage interest deductions, reducing my deductions for eligable dependants by 1/2, a consumption based flush tax (which would be astronomical in my household of 8), tripling the gas tax to the highest in the nation, among others. In his tenure, he has already increased toll fees, raised the sales tax by 20%, tried a millionaires tax that drove wealthy marylanders to neighboring states, a tech tax that didn’t last, among others. and for some reason which i cannot figure, you idiots put back in office for 4 more years.
I, for one, work way too hard for my money as it is. I am taxed enough already, and this tyrant needs to be stopped.
i received an email that the following comment had been posted, but i don’t see it:
Author: Arturo Nasney
Comment:
Think of it this way; If you are a middle income earner who derives your income through wages or salary, you are paying somewhere in the vicinity of 60% of all income into taxes and fees. Now I think that 40% is way too much for the average citizen to spend wisely. Couple that with the high cost of collecting the 60% it should be obvious that we have it all backwards. How about taking all of our income and just using what the government needs and then giving us as much as we need according to some bureaucrat’s calculations. “FROM EACH ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY, TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS NEED.” What’s wrong with that?
response: what’s wrong with that?!!!!! do you mean aside from being the primary tenet of Marxism? that’s called wealth redistribution. or more accurately, poverty redistribution. that line of thinking essentially stifles any incentive for one to work hard to achieve the american dream of freedom. freedom to be able to afford whatever he or she may want. not to say that the accumulation of wealth is the american; rather, it is the product of it.
and who are you to question my ability to wisely spend 40%, 4%, or even 99% of my earnings?
as i reread the original post, it appears that it may be sarcastic, and i certainly hope that is the case. all the governor will get by taxing me more is 2 less taxpayers in the state of maryland, as my wife and i would gladly look elsewhere. our jobs our portable and our children are young. the housing market is depressed across the country, and we could easily find a home somewhere else that will tax me less and spend public funds more wisely than O’Malley’s administration.
you did get it Jeff. I wrote that completely tongue in cheek. The tenets of Marxism sound wonderful and if you have never worked in the real world are taken as utopian. The most serious failing of the entire socio-marxist theory is that there is a class of citizens who will not produce. I call them the parasite class. Ayn Rand refers to them in her writings as well. It is absolutely impossible to have equitable distribution of wealth because there are many ( in our case here in the US approaching 30% of the citizenry)who produce absolutely nothing. If you add the waste at the government levels the number is staggering. Distribution of wealth requires the everyone be about creating wealth.
Taxes, fees, fees, taxes – time to change the State song! Strike up the band O’Malley, we’re ready for the chorus….”take, take, take, take, take!” When the heck are you going to find the word “cut” in your vocabulary????
Who are the 4% whom think they are paying too little in taxes? While I do think that I pay enough in taxes, digital downloads should not be exempt from paying taxes as a brick and mortar business has to pay. I propose that any new tax be offset by a reduction of the income tax and the state find other ways to balance the budget. I think many other services should also be taxed with an equal reduction of the income tax, which I think its not only unconstitutional but also reduces people’s ability to keep more of what they have earned. Florida has no income tax and they seem to balance their budget in some other forms. A value added tax would put the taz burden on the consumers of good and services.
Florida is heavily dependent on tourism and the money it brings in. There is a tax on rental cars for instance. And with the downturn in the economy, things are not as rosy as you might think in Florida, since tourism is down too.
The average income in Maryland is about $70,000. Twenty percent of Maryland families make $100,000 or over. A family interviewed by a Sun reported who makes $100,000 said they can not afford the tax increase because they need the money for private school tuition for their children. In their case, it was estimated that, if the O’Malley law went into effect, they would pay $150 more each year in taxes. Just the same, what is happening with the money coming in from legalized gambling?
I am thinking you meant the median household income is about $70,000.
Delegate Kathy Szeliga was kind enough to email me a copy of the Gonzalez poll in detail. While the pollsters did collect information about political parties, gender and where they live in the state of Maryland, the poll failed to collect information about the income bracket of the various respondents. I would be curious about the income bracket of the 4% who responded that they do not pay enough in taxes. If the respondents who say they pay enough in taxes or pay too much are among the lower income bracket and the 4% who say they don’t pay enough in taxes are among the wealthiest of the respondents, then the solution would be to have a more progressive tax rate, similar to the one this country had in place before the George W. Bush tax cuts. The “We Are the 96%” movement is based on an incomplete poll.
Tom Myers
President, Young Democrats of Harford County
Tom,
The Bush Tax cuts reduced the tax rates of all Americans equally so if you were to repeal it, it wouldn’t make the tax rates in America any more progressive. Oh, you mean you want to selectivley repeal only the part of the Bush Tax cuts that apply to the rich. Gotcha, yeah tax the rich because we are too lazy to work to ever become one of them.
Fair is fair. Repeal all of the Bush tax cuts.
How right you are. Cut all of the tax cuts! We don’t kn ow how to spend our money wisely and don’t deserve to keep any of it.
I haven’t read much of this article before but I just read the last line: “Millionaires are now anyone making $100,000 or more.”
As someone that makes $100,000, or more, I have two thoughts about this remark: 1) I do not regard myself as a millionaire, and 2) I believe I can afford to pay more in taxes to avoid cuts in services and state jobs created by some people who always think it’s other people’s problem.
96% might say the pay enough in taxes but most of the fools still vote for O’Malley and his cronies. What does that tell you?