From John Paff:
Today, May 31st 2011, is the first deadline to submit signatures to bring Senate Bill 167 to referendum. SB167 would grant “In-State Tuition” to illegal immigrants. This bill will raise tuition costs for Maryland’s children and it will cost the citizens of Maryland nearly $4million per year. While other states are forcing illegal immigrants out over concerns for their fiscal future, Maryland is offering illegal immigrants incentives to break the law.
The citizens of Maryland were required to submit 18,500 signatures by May 31st and 56,000 total signatures by June 30th to prevent SB167 from taking effect and allowing the voters of Maryland the right to decide on SB 167 on the November 2012 ballot. I am proud to report that today Delegate Neil Parrott and Delegate Pat McDonough met the first deadline of 18,500 by delivering 40,000 signatures to the State Board of Elections in Annapolis. We are on target to bring SB167 to referendum, but we still need everyone’s help to meet our goal of 100,000 signatures by June 30th. We know that some signatures will be invalidated due to technicalities, which is why we have set our goal at 100,000 signatures.
To print and sign the petition please visit http://www.mdpetitions.com . After signing be sure to have your friends and family sign as well. For more information in Harford County, please email us at harfordpetitions@gmail.com
John Paff
Harford County Coordinator
SuperFlyofBelAir says
What is Paff the coordinator of?????
Pat Scott says
Saw the ad early this morning. Can’t wait to see results.
Legal American says
I wonder how many signatures there actually are since many have been mailed in by individuals themselves. I have mailed 5 full pages also and given many to my friends to have filled out. Lets keep up the good work.
Greg Czechowicz says
I am so happy they received enough signatures for phase 1. Now lets get some more signatures so this will be decided by the LEGAL votes of Maryland!
Wayne Norman says
Readers of the Dagger that would like to sign the petition in person may do so at my office in Bel Air, 808 South Main Street, Bel Air, MD 21014. 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. Look for the “Sign the Petition” sign in the front yard! It helps if you bring your voter card in with you.
HYDESMANN says
Hopefully we can get enough signatures to stop this abomination of a bill. The state of MD is billions in the red yet can find millions of dollars to give to criminals ( new Americans???). It’s like living in Absurdistan, to quote Ron Smith.
Cdev says
how is MD billions in the red? I thought we had a balanced budget ammendment?
John Paff says
OUR ESTIMATE OF 40,000 SIGNATURES WAS WRONG!!!! THE OFFICIAL COUNT AS OF 11PM LAST NIGHT WAS 62,000 SIGNATURES SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL!!!!
Gary says
Illegal or not, if they pay taxes on their income they are entitled to the benefits of a taxpayer. The bill requires that they be taxpayers. My guess is that people are not being told this simple fact when they are asked to sign the petition.
Grady says
What bothers me is that a LEGAL U.S. citizen from Delaware will pay more to attend college in Maryland than an ILLEGAL immigrant from Mexico.
Your argument does have merit. My concern is that we have a push to legalize illegal immigrants…why would you want to go through the hoops to become legal when you can reap the benefits of citizenship as an illegal?
Gary says
Delaware residents don’t pay Maryland taxes so why should they get the benefit? It sounds like you would like to give the benefit to someone that doesn’t pay but deny it to someone who does pay.
Now THAT sounds like racism.
Grady says
No Gary, not a racist. I would rather see an American from Delaware get in-state tuition than an illegal immigrant. I guess that would make me pro-American. I can see why the left gets so little respect. When someone doesn’t agree with you, then they must be a racist.
noble says
1. No, if they are illegal and paying taxes, they are idiots. I appreciate their contribution to the MD Treasury and IRS, but it doesn’t make them a legal resident.
2. The law actually requires that they simply FILE taxes, not actually pay taxes. It’s probably safe to assume that many of them would not actually have a tax liability due to level of income and/or family size. It is stated repeatedly that since “they pay taxes” it’s no big deal, but this is itself very misleading. As you say, read the actual bill and make sure you understand what you’re going to be voting on.
rbaskins says
If they are illegal, they don’t have an SSN so how can they be paying taxes?????????? WAKE UP people
Gary says
Do some research and educate yourself. Then you will know how. Here’s a start. Stop believing every email you read. http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-10-immigrantstaxes_N.htm
The real information is out there but to many people are too lazy to look.
noble says
You don’t need a SSN to file/pay taxes.
With all the people on both sides of this issue who spew misinformation without putting information in their heads first, we must have hundreds of good candidates for Congress reading the Dagger.
John Paff says
Gary,
The law was amended and all that is required as far as taxes is that you file a Maryland tax return, not that you pay taxes. Studies have found that Illegal Immigrants via sales, gas and income tax pay about $200 million a year. However, the cost of illegal immigrants on Maryland’s economy is $1.5 Billion/yr. So when they pay the other $1.3 Billion/yr to cover the debt and then a little extra to actually contribute something to the system, then we can talk.