Note: Stories restored from cached page on March 1, 2007. But the links did not work in the PDF sent.

December 29, 2006. MTA to Aberdeen City Council: "get a grip on your budget and forget about new tax hikes." Statewide taxpayer group praises state senator Nancy Jacobs for her stand against proposed hotel tax. Click here for whole story...

December 28, 2006. Bill Steigerwald writes about the newly elected Republican study committee chairman, Jeb Hensarling of Texas, in FrontPageMagazine.com. HENSARLING: "What they really talked about was that we’re not convinced that you guys will control the border or will not control spending. That’s pretty much what I’ve heard for the last two years."

December 22, 2006. Whither the Republicans? ask Alan Brody and Douglas Tallman in the Gazette. "Some say the party’s heart and soul will be the legislative leaders, who will promote the Republican agenda. At least one lawmaker said the responsibility cannot not lie with a single person. 'It’s going to be issuedependent,' said Del. Richard B. Weldon (R-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick. For instance, Del. Adelaide C. Eckardt (R-Dist. 37B) of Cambridge may be looked to to champion fiscal matters while Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. (R-Dist. 32) of Glen Burnie will be the go-to guy on social issues, Weldon said." ||| Tax-loving foxes in the Republican henhouse? Faithful readers should note that Weldon, Eckardt, and House Republican leader O'Donnell and Senate Republican leader Brinkley are all industrial-strength taxers. Multiple-promise-breakers O'Donnell and Eckardt are also no-new-taxes pledge signers.

December 27, 2006. The Wall Street Journal writes on The Payroll Tax Trap: Will Bush's legacy be a huge new burden on the most productive Americans? "A tax increase of any kind with GOP fingerprints would remove the one big political brand advantage that Republicans still have over Democrats. It would make it far easier for Hillary Rodham Clinton to propose another tax increase in 2008 because GOP credibility in fighting the idea would be nil--just as it was in 1992 after Mr. Bush's father raised taxes as part of his 'deficit reduction' deal with George Mitchell. If Republicans now let themselves get sucked into a payroll tax increase, they'l deserve the same fate."

December 26, 2006. Bruce Bartlett details how administration spin greatly understates the growing budget burden. "The federal government does do a calculation of the federal debt based on accrual accounting, but it appears in an obscure Treasury Department publication called the Financial Report of the United States Government. (It can be found at http://www.fms.treas.gov) The latest appeared on Dec. 15, and Bush did not call a press conference to announce the results."

A study by Lauren Morando Rhim, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, prepared for the State Board of Education urges public charter school reforms: "After three years, the Maryland Charter School Program has created new educational opportunities within the existing public school system. Yet, charter schools in Maryland face substantial barriers to success—barriers that if not addressed may undermine the ability of these schools to sustain their operations. Demand for charter schools, demonstrated by the number of applicants and enrollment data and apparent parent satisfaction, leads us to conclude that there is support for the continuation of the Maryland Charter School Program. In recognition of the identified challenges, successful continuation of the program is contingent upon modifications to state law, refinement of authorizer policies, and development of high quality charter applicants." [Underscoring by TBN.]

December 25, 2006. Immigration questions may give Republicans sway, reports Kristen Wyatt in the Washington Times. "'Maryland's like the easiest place in the country to get a license,' said Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the No. 2 Republican in the state Senate. Another Republican, Sen. Janet Greenip of Anne Arundel County, said she will introduce a bill requiring proof of citizenship before getting a driver's license. 'It's the single most-divisive legislation that's going to come forward this year,' said Stephen Schreiman, state director of the Maryland chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, which supports tougher curbs on illegal aliens."

December 25, 2006. Immigration questions may give Republicans sway, reports Kristen Wyatt in the Washington Times. "'Maryland's like the easiest place in the country to get a license,' said Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the No. 2 Republican in the state Senate. Another Republican, Sen. Janet Greenip of Anne Arundel County, said she will introduce a bill requiring proof of citizenship before getting a driver's license. 'It's the single most-divisive legislation that's going to come forward this year,' said Stephen Schreiman, state director of the Maryland chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, which supports tougher curbs on illegal aliens."

December 23, 2006. Attention, online shoppers; State politicians are creating a de facto national sales tax, reports the Wall Street Journal. "The larger issue, however, is the decline in tax competition among the 50 states. One reason New York City has felt compelled to exempt purchases of clothing items below $110 from its 8.375% sales tax is to prevent too many shoppers from heading to New Jersey or Connecticut. The lack of an income or sales tax in New Hampshire has also forced nearby states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island to cut their own levies lest they lose even more taxpayers to Nashua or Manchester. And in the European Union, Ireland and the Baltic states have used low corporate rates or flat taxes to attract capital, driving the high-tax French and Germans to demand 'tax harmonization' from the bureaucrats in Brussels.
||| The same self-interested impulse is driving the American state politicians who are quietly building this uniform multi-state online sales tax."

Exclusive to MTA: Guide Posts for Fixing Maryland Medicaid by Heritage Foundation's Nina Owcharenko Medicaid expansions seem like a simple solution to help the uninsured. Unfortunately, most of these proposals are shortsighted and ignore its unintended consequences: 1. As Medicaid takes a larger role in the state, other state priorities, such as education and transportation, take a back seat. According to the National Governor's Association, Medicaid has now surpassed education as the largest item in state budgets. 2. As Medicaid expands to cover more people, access to quality care is jeopardized. Medicaid is intended to help the truly poor and indigent. As the program expands, the services are forced to spread out over a larger population, making coverage a mile wide, but only an inch deep. 3. As Medicaid moves up the income scale, the risk of displacing existing private coverage, especially that offered by businesses, grows. Fewer employers with workers who qualify for Medicaid will feel it necessary to provide coverage if the government and taxpayer will pay for it instead. A far better solution is to focus on market-based approaches that are based on consumer choice and market competition. States like Florida have begun to incorporate such principles in their state Medicaid programs (See "Florida and South Carolina: Two Serious Efforts to Reform Medicaid" by Nina Owcharenko at www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm920.cfm).

December 22, 2006. Hammen wants to expand Medicaid; Bill would include higher tobacco tax and help for small businesses, reports Douglas Tallman in the Gazette. "Health care promises to be a major issue in 2007, and the chairman of a key House of Delegates committee is crafting a bill that tries to provide health coverage for a quarter-million Marylanders."

Special report from the Tax Foundation- Andrew Chamberlain and Patrick Fleenor analyze Tax Pyramiding: The Economic Consequences of Gross Receipts Taxes. "There is a growing trend among states toward replacing corporate income taxes with Depression-era gross receipts taxes."

December 22, 2006. Strained Transit Systems' Needs May Force higher gasoline, sales taxes; As population grows, demand for help from the state is likely to grow, Transit Funding Steering Committee is told, report by Alan Brody and Douglas Tallman in the Gazette. "Maryland lawmakers would have to almost double the gasoline tax or raise the state sales tax nearly a penny over the next 20 years to expand and maintain the state’s transit system."

December 20, 2006. President Bush signs wide-ranging trade, tax bill; Package also opens Gulf to more oil, gas exploration reports William L. Watts, in MarketWatch. "Marking one of the last gasps of the Republican-controlled 109th Congress, President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a massive legislative package that included a wide assortment of measures ranging from the extension of popular tax breaks to offshore oil drilling to trade with Vietnam" [more, see TAX PACKAGE...].

TAX PACKAGE..."The[tax] package also features a new break long sought by insurers that will allow some middle-income families to deduct mortgage-insurance premiums. ||| Under current law, homeowners can deduct mortgage interest, but can't deduct mortgage-insurance premiums. Mortgage insurance is often required for home buyers unable to make a 20% down payment." ||| "The tax bill's authors also quietly slipped in provisions designed to make health-savings accounts, or HSAs, more attractive from a tax standpoint. The measures were seen as a sweetener meant to assuage discomfort by some conservatives over the total cost of the tax package, which is estimated to run nearly $40 billion over 10 years." For more details of the bill see December 11 story.