TAXPAYER BREAKING NEWS, November 2007
continued from MTA Home Page

November 30, 2007. Washington Times" Immigration group[s]: Huckabee a 'disaster' "'He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor,'said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a major role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year's Senate immigration bill. 'Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens.'" READ MORE.

November 29, 2007. Washingtonpost.com: Montgomery Bracing for A Record Shortfall. "In the wake of the General Assembly's passage this month of a hefty tax package, Leggett said he is reluctant to turn to additional tax increases. But he and the council could be under pressure to consider breaking the county's charter limit on property taxes: A change could raise as much as $237 million." READ MORE.

November 29th, 2007. Bluey Blog: Romney, Giuliani Flop on Farm Subsidies. "If conservatives can’t get the Republican candidates to commit to solving these problems now, what on earth are we supposed to expect if they’re actually elected?" READ MORE.

November 29, 2007. Mark Steyn on NRO: Fred's sails in the sunset. "Every time I see a Fred policy plan, he seems to have by far the best ideas, and the necessary zeal for reform, on taxes, Social Security and much else. But every time you see him in these TV debates he has the listless air of a bored grandparent at a dreary school play." READ MORE.

November 29, 2007. Mark Krikorian in NRO's The Corner: Subsidizing Immigration. "My center released a new profile of the immigrant population today, focusing on low education levels and consequent high rates of poverty, lack of insurance, and use of government services. We got a pretty good bounce (both the good Times and the bad Times, Post, USA Today, etc.) and most of the stories were pretty straight, reporting the numbers and the usual obfuscatory quotes from the open-borders crowd. But one statistic that seems to me should have garnered more attention is that among Mexican immigrant households — by far the largest immigrant group — half are on welfare. This isn't because they're plotting to rip us off, but because they're 19th century workers in a 21st century economy, and simply don't have the tools to support themselves. The result is government-subsidized immigration, with taxpayers footing the bill for all this 'cheap' labor."
TBN invites Maryland taxpayers' attention to pages 31, 33, 34, 36, and 37 of the entire CIS report.

November 28, 2007 Minor Carter's Take on the Special Session and the Slots Tax. "Now that we have all had time to recover from the Special Session, we need to put it in perspective. In my history with the General Assembly that spans some 35 years, it is the strangest session of all. Given the election of a Democratic governor after the first Republican governor in over 40 years and the existing deficit, there was extraordinary pressure on the General Assembly to pass the Governor’s legislation once the Special Session was called." READ MORE.

November 28, 2007. Montgomery Bracing for A Record Shortfall - washingtonpost.com "In the wake of the General Assembly's passage this month of a hefty tax package, Leggett said he is reluctant to turn to additional tax increases. But he and the council could be under pressure to consider breaking the county's charter limit on property taxes: A change could raise as much as $237 million." READ MORE.

November 28, 2007 WSJ REVIEW & OUTLOOK: "Flat Tax Fred - - - Thompson's reform leads the GOP field. "The main political obstacle to such a reform in the U.S. has come from liberals, who favor punitive taxes for 'class' reasons, and K Street corporate lobbyists who want to retain their tax-loophole empires. The housing and insurance industries, states and localities, charities, bond traders and tax preparers are all foes of low tax rates." READ MORE.

November 27, 2007. Larry Kudlow in NRO's The Corner: "Republicans should take care to propose lower tax rates on middle-income earners, as well as successful investors. The real supply-side “bang for the buck” comes at the top-end, but across-the-board rate reductions do have positive economic and political benefits. Collapsing the middle-income brackets — 15 percent, 25 percent, and 28 percent — would make a lot of sense." READ MORE.

November 25, 2007. The Herald-Mail ONLINE "National Heritage Areas Catching On." "This is backdoor federal land-use planning," said Ann Corcoran, who is fighting a "Hallowed Ground" Civil War heritage designation around her western Maryland farm. "Once this is in place, there will be pressure on the local governments to plan their land use around the theme of heritage preservation." READ MORE.
In addition to MTA board member Ann Corcoran's objections, TBN notes here and here the Heritage Foundation's two devastating reports on the Hallowed Ground and similar larger schemes. Representative Roscoe Bartlett has also weighed in: "[A]ny federal legislation to create a National Heritage Area should retain local control of its management by Marylanders concerning sites in Maryland. I also believe that if land is taken for historic preservation, then affected property owners should be compensated at fair market value. I introduced H.R.1270 because the legislation advancing through Congress fails on both counts."

November 23, 2007. Gazette.net: Unions mull role in slots referendum. "‘In all likelihood we’ll be mobilizing unions and the members to assure its passage,' said Fred D. Mason Jr., president of the Maryland and D.C. AFL-CIO. ‘We believe it will not only create additional revenue for the state of Maryland, but it also will be a tremendous job development program.'
. . . . . . . .
'We’ve always been against expanded gambling in Maryland,' said Dick Dowling, a lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference. 'There will always be the need for money. This modest slots initiative is merely a stepping stone to full-blown gambling, riverboat gambling, Chesapeake Bay gambling,'he said." READ MORE.

November 23, 2007. Gazette.net: With session wrapped up, contentious issues are ahead. "Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. will once again sponsor a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. 'If it’s important enough for us to send the slots bill to referendum, I think it’s equally important to send the issue of marriage between a man and a woman to the voters for a final decision, as well,' said Dwyer (R-Dist. 31) of Glen Burnie. READ MORE.

November 21, 2007. DC Examiner: Success on budget just about got away. “'Success was not inevitable,' O’Malley told WBAL radio’s Scott Wycoff. 'It could have gone very, very poorly. Three days before the close, there were many of us who thought that we had given it our best shot but this wasn’t going to happen.
. . . .
Without the support of a handful of Republicans in both House [Elmore, Impallaria, Kach, King, Weldon] and Senate [Edwards, Munson], the governor’s proposed constitutional referendum on slot machine gambling and the detailed bill to implement it would have gone down to defeat, despite heavy Democratic majorities in both houses." READ MORE.

November 21, 2007. NRO commentator Freddoso declares: "In addition to Grover Norquist's excellent piece . . . on Warren Buffett, death tax predator, check out Tim Carney's column on former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating (R), whose view on the death tax has changed dramatically since he became head of the American Council of Life Insurers." READ MORE.
TBN: Faithful readers will recall that Maryland's "decoupling" from Bush death-tax relief began under governor Glendening and continued under governor Ehrlich. State senator Janet Greenip's bill "recoupling" with the Bush death-tax relief was defeated last March by the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee - - - both Democrats and Republicans voting "no."

TABOR HAZARD! November 21, 2007. DC Examiner editorial. Oklahoma welcomes political activists (to prison). "But even in a deeply red state like Oklahoma, Big Government has backers — mainly teachers and labor unions — and they persuaded a state court to throw the petition out because nonresidents allegedly helped solicit signatures. The trio now faces up to 10 years in prison if they are convicted on Edmondson’s charges. All three pleaded not guilty and claim they were advised by state officials on how to comply with the law in all respects during the petition drive." READ MORE.

November 20, 2007. Michelle Malkin: Who’s to blame for the spread of illegal alien IDs? "Before Republicans jump all over San Fran for approving security-undermining, phony baloney IDs to illegals, they might want to take it up with the White House first." READ MORE.

November 20, 2007. Washington Post: Some Think Changes Could Burden Poor. "Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), a vocal critic of the special session, said the tax package is 'regressive' and 'may damage the Maryland economy, which is in a volatile and soft position right now.'" READ MORE.

November 19, 2007. Free State Voices Join National Appeal In Behalf of Jailed Border Agents."The purpose of this letter is not to argue the legal points of the Ramos and Compean case but to raise deep concerns among conservatives regarding the larger moral implications surrounding their continued incarceration. As you deliberate, their lives are clearly at risk. The government’s response to this threat has been to place these two agents in solitary confinement for over 10 months—an inhumane treatment and gross injustice that is worse than the terrorists and enemy combatants receive at Guantanamo Bay." READ ENTIRE LETTER TO PRESIDENT.

November 19, 2007. John Fund in Opinion Journal: Mi Casa, Sue Casa; Nancy Pelosi tries to force the Salvation Army to hire people who can't speak English. "The late Albert Shanker, head of the American Federation of Teachers, once pointed out that public schools were established in this country largely 'to help mostly immigrant children learn the three R's and what it means to be an American, with the hope that they would go home and teach their parents the principles in the Constitution and the Declaration that unite us.'" READ MORE.

November 19, 2007. National Review Online editorial: Right Questions, Wrong Answers ."When he was governor of Arkansas, these instincts led Huckabee to move farther and farther in a statist direction. (Education policy offers a nice example of what happens when his statism and his social conservatism conflict: He opposes meaningful school choice.) The Cato Institute gave him a D on fiscal policy, noting that spending had increased at three times the rate of inflation during his governorship. Not surprisingly, Huckabee is the one Republican candidate who flinched when President Bush vetoed the Democrats’ proposed expansion of S-CHIP. He says he is against socialized medicine, but don’t look for him to resist the drift toward it". READ ENTIRE NRO EDITORIAL.
ALSO SEE. . . November 8, 2007. Newsmax. Reform Group: Thompson Would Hike Taxes. "The position Thompson took as a senator on tort reform makes him an 'opponent of the small business community, and the big business community and entrepreneurs everywhere,' Norquist says. 'So the tax issue is front and center. The fact that he refuses to say he won’t raise taxes and in fact all but shouts he wants to walk into a room and raise taxes to fix entitlements means that on taxes, he is the worst Republican running.'” READ MORE.

SLOTS-TAX POODLES - - - Click here for the Bill Garner cartoon in the Washington Times naming the "5 renegades."
TAX-HIKE POODLES - - - "...the sorry performance of these five Maryland Democratic senators who tried to pretend they are anti-tax while helping Senate President Mike Miller ram through tax increases..." --"Mike Miller's Poodles," Washington Times editorial, November 14, 2007
	Rona Kramer (Montgomery)	Ed DeGrange (Anne Arundel)	John Astle (Anne Arundel)	Bobby Zirkin (Baltimore Co.)	Roy Dyson (St. Mary's)
www.fabmutt.com/	[Click here for printer-friendly Tax Poodles story]

November 19, 2007. Baltimore Sun: House approves Medicaid expansion - - Legislators tie part of bill to approval of slots. "The Maryland effort still falls short of other state programs that aim to provide universal health coverage, but O'Malley has said he would continue to push toward that goal." READ MORE .

November 19, 2007. Michelle Malkin: Maryland's "vaccine bullies." "Parents are being treated like child abusers by the Maryland public education system, but who’s exploiting whom? If you’re wondering why the schools didn’t simply threaten to kick the kids out of school–as opposed to jailing and fining their parents–the answer is all in the money. The schools are funded based on average-daily-attendance. Every body in a classroom is cash in their pockets. But never question the motives of the Nanny State, right? It’s for the children." READ MORE.

November 19, 2007. Examiner editorial: "Maryland's climate of secrecy." "Put simply, O’Malley’s commission outsourced development of the Maryland government’s global warming policy to a group with a financial and ideological stake in the outcome — the environmental firms and consultants behind CCS gaining the inside track for future business in Maryland." READ MORE.
Faithful readers will recall our closely related October posting entitled, "Beware of climate control." READ THIS POSTING.

November 19, 2007. WBAL: Special Session Ends After 3 Weeks, Voters Will Decide Slots Issue."Here is the complete list of the tax changes approved by lawmakers during their three week special session . . . " READ MORE.

November 19, 2007. Maryland Senate Republican Caucus: "Massive Regressive Tax Increase Passed in Dead of Night."
"SURPRISE: New MVA Fee Appears in Final Bill: Without any public notice, House Bill 5 emerged from an “informal” conference committee with a new MVA fee increase. The fee for a title certificate will be raised 120% (from $23 to $50) under amendments adopted by both chambers. While Governor O’Malley protested against such fee increases last summer as being too onerous for working-class families, his tax package as enacted will raise $32 million per year from this fee increase." READ MORE.
UPDATE from Caucus. "Co-Dependency of Spending Problem + Tax Hikes = Pain for Md. Taxpayers." READ MORE.

ON-POINT - FREE STATE BLOGGER POSTINGS: Governor Dick Lamm’s warning -- from Refugee Resettlement Watch. "We’ve just posted on our Diversity page a speech by Richard Lamm, former governor of Colorado. It has been circulating in an email called “American suicide” since 2005 but is as timely today as it was when he gave it. He goes through a list of ways to destroy America from within, beginning..." READ IT.

November 19, 2007. Tax Foundation Blog: AMT Fix Now Even More Important for Maryland Given Income Tax Hike. "It should be made clear that no Marylander will explicitly pay a higher federal tax bill as a result of O'Malley's plan. However, especially if nothing is done to limit AMT at the federal level next year, Marylanders who are facing a higher income tax bill from Annapolis next year should not expect a guarantee that they will be able to deduct those higher taxes paid on their federal income tax returns." (Underscoring MTA's) READ MORE.

November 19, 2007. Washington Post: Md. Lawmakers Approve Tax Package. "Computer services that would be subject to the tax include consulting and programming help, as well as software installation and hardware maintenance. Legislative analysts said at least nine other states tax computer services. The group of legislators agreed to revisit the issue in five years to determine what effects the tax has had." READ MORE.
TBN notes that this provision captures the total indifference of the current administration and General Assembly leadership to any pretense of keeping Maryland competitive with other states for high-technology industry and knowledge-based jobs.

November 18, 2007. WBAL: House & Senate Ready To Approve Tax And Spending Packages. "Lawmakers resolved differences to restructure the state's income tax brackets, which now are relatively flat. That's because everyone who makes more than $3,000 in taxable income pays a 4.75 percent rate. The change would set up three new brackets. Single tax filers making more than $150,000 and joint filers making more than $200,000 will pay 5 percent; singles making more than $300,000 and joint filers earning more than $350,000 will pay 5.25 percent; people with income above $500,000 would pay 5.5 percent." READ MORE.

November 17, 2007. WBAL reports: Senate Adjourns Until Sunday Night; House Debate & Vote On Second Slots Bill Delayed. "Miller said that he was confident that lawmakers could reach an agreement on all of the bills of the special session and adopt them late tomorrow night, ending the now 20 day old special session." READ MORE.

November 16, 2007. WBAL: House Passes Slots Question. "Tonight, Comptroller Peter Franchot, who is the state's highest ranking slots opponent, issued a statement condemning the slots referendum vote." READ MORE.
Here are the delegates who voted today to put the slots tax on the statewide ballot next November. TBN has added an asterisk * to the Baltimore Sun's list, indicating the delegates who are no-new-taxes pledge signer. SEE THE ENTIRE LIST.

November 16, 2007. Washington Post: Bill for Referrendum on Slots Still Waits to Pass the House. "Miller called that prospect 'a total fraud,' saying that would make it 'highly unlikely' that his chamber would seek to reconcile other bills passed during the session with versions approved by the House. Those bills would raise an additional $1.4 billion in annual tax revenue and direct O'Malley to cut about $500 million from next year's budget. 'I think the session can be saved if they pass nothing or they pass both bills,' Miller said of the slots legislation pending in the House. He said lawmakers should not be "'lying and stealing and cheating the public into thinking you're doing something when you're not.' READ MORE.

Which Tax Plan Plunders You the Most? That of the governor, the Maryland Senate, or the House of Delegates? WE REPORT - - - YOU DECIDE.

November 15, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Lobbying blitz under way for slots referendum. "Miller said failing to pass the enabling bill would put some tax legislation in jeopardy and would eliminate the chance for an expansion of health care or for a new initiative to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, top priorities in the House." READ MORE.

November 15, 2007. Washington Times: Illegals' licenses dropped. "Mr. Spitzer's move yesterday was an attempt to stop his political bleeding, but the damage has already been done. A Siena Research Institute poll released this week found only 25 percent of New York voters say they would re-elect him now, just a year after he won election." READ MORE.

November 15, 2007. The Daily Times/delmarvanow.com:1st District races heat up. "'State Sen. Harris has a perfect record in the General Assembly as far as we're concerned,' said Richard Falknor, MTA executive vice president. 'Andy Harris brings our members to life as no Republican has in the last five or six years.'" READ MORE.

November 15, 2007. Washington Times: House alters O'Malley slots plan as vote nears."'The governor has made this a do-or-die vote for his administration,' said Delegate Luiz R.S. Simmons, Montgomery Democrat and slots opponent. 'I don't think there's enough conviction, especially in Montgomery County, which could ironically give [Mr. O'Malley] the margin to bring slots into this state through referendum.' Mr. Simmons has been working with Republicans to block the slots measure." READ MORE.

November 15, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Slots referendum would go to voters next November. "Republicans said yesterday that as many as 10 of them could defect from their party's stance against the slots referendum, and others might follow. One GOP legislator on the fence is Del. James King of Anne Arundel County, who said he anticipates making a 'game-time decision' right before the legislation hits the floor. 'The heat will get turned up and we'll see how hard the push gets,' he said. 'The Democrats are whipping their guys and as soon as they get the votes, they'll bring it to the floor. I think they'd like to do it without Republicans, but I'm not so sure they can.'" READ MORE.
TBN breathlessly awaits learning what principles of statesmanship will guide no-new-taxes-pledge-signer James King when he makes his "game-time decision."

November 14, 2007. Washington Times: Mike Miller's Poodles. "The fix appears to be in, and Maryland taxpayers should get ready for another fleecing, courtesy of the 'emergency' session of the General Assembly called by Gov. Martin O'Malley. Assuming the tax increases go through, everyone should remember the sorry performances of these five Maryland Democratic senators who tried to pretend that they are anti-tax while helping Senate President Mike Miller ram through tax increases: Rona Kramer (Montgomery); Edward DeGrange (Anne Arundel); John Astle (Anne Arundel); Bobby Zirkin (Baltimore County); and Roy Dyson (St. Mary's). These five lawmakers last week voted to help get Mr. Miller the the bare-minimum 29 votes he needed to end a filibuster against his tax increase." READ MORE.
TBN notes that by voting against the anti-tax-hike filibuster, Roy Dyson, a no-new-taxes pledge signer, also became a promise breaker. See MTA's Tax Poodle picture story, above.

November 14, 2007. Baltimore Sun: House offers specific budget cuts for O'Malley. "The vote went largely along party lines, with Democrats voting for the package of spending cuts and Republicans against, although five delegates crossed party lines. Republicans Ron George and Steve Schuh of Anne Arundel County and Susan L.M. Aumann of Baltimore County supported it, while Democrats Frank M. Conaway Jr. of Baltimore City and Kevin Kelly of Allegany County opposed the measure. READ MORE.

November 14, 2007. Baltimore Examiner editorial: "We are not sheep."
"As state Sen. Norman Stone, D-Dundalk, said in Tuesday’s Examiner, “if the governor would have said to each one of his Cabinet secretaries: ‘Look through your budget, cut that budget by whatever it took,’ I don’t think it would take over 2, 3 percent to make up this deficit or a good portion of it. ... I know they would have found whatever it takes to balance the budget.” He’s right." READ MORE.

November 13, 2007. Washington Times: Maryland House delays meeting on slots. "Senate members said Mr. Miller was waiting for the House to pass a slots plan before he would consider moving any House bills through the Senate. 'Miller's making it clear to Busch that nothing's going to happen until we have slots,' said Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman, Carroll and Howard counties Republican." READ MORE.

November 13, 2007. Baltimore Sun: O'Malley promise on taxes erased. "But after a series of amendments the state Senate adopted last week, that appears to be in doubt. The House of Delegates voted to restore some of O'Malley's promised progressivity, but even plan supporters acknowledge that working families are likely to end up paying the same amount or more in taxes." READ MORE.

BREAKING! November 12, 2007. Washington Post: Tax Bills Passed, Bargaining Begins."Leaders of the Maryland House of Delegates offered one another congratulatory embraces early yesterday morning after passing two tax bills that would raise $1.4 billion a year to help close a budget shortfall and pay for transportation and health-care priorities. But lawmakers predicted several more long days ahead as they try to bring a special session called by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to a close this week." READ MORE.

November 10, 2007. Washington Times: Maryland Senate OKs tax increase. "Comptroller Peter Franchot this week criticized lawmakers for considering a plan that would hurt low-income residents and for ramming it through during a hectic special session. 'The bulk of the new revenue to be generated from this package will come from two significant regressive sources: the sales tax and slot-machine gambling,' Mr. Franchot said. 'These are now the twin goal posts of the tax package — and they constitute, in my view, one of the largest tax increases on working families and the working poor in the state's history.'" READ MORE.

November 10, 2007. C. Q. Lincoln in National Review Online: The Tancredo Paradox: His issue is ascendant while the battleground shifts."Tom Tancredo will not be the Republican nominee for president in 2008, nor will he be a member of the 111th Congress when it convenes in January of 2009. Yet, it is obvious that Tancredo has already cast a long shadow over the 2008 election. Because his message resonates with voters, he is also likely to cast a shadow over the national debates in 2009 and beyond." READ MORE.

November 10, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Competing tax plans. "Under the Senate tax bill, the sales tax would rise from 5 percent to 6 percent, the tobacco tax would double to $2 per pack of cigarettes and the corporate income tax would increase from 7 percent to 8 percent - all measures sought by O'Malley. The chamber jettisoned O'Malley's proposed reduction of the state property tax and largely rejected his proposals for making a flat personal income tax structure more progressive. The Senate would extend the sales tax to computer services and arcade games, while dropping a proposal to add landscaping services. The House would extend the sales tax to auto repair and to parking garages, while doubling the hotel tax." READ MORE.

November 10, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Senate OKs health care bill. "Under the Medicaid expansion, all adults earning up to 116 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $20,000 for a family of three, would be eligible. While Maryland covers children in families earning up to three times the poverty level, the state has a much lower threshold for covering adults - 40 percent - and ranks in the bottom third of all states in terms of coverage." READ MORE.

November 9, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Senate OKs slots plan.
"As for the tax bill, the Senate narrowly approved an amendment that defines a Maryland resident as someone who lives in the state for more than three months - a change from current law that says six months."
"Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said the provision would harm retirees and seasonal workers, and discourage people from keeping ties to Maryland. 'You might as well put a sign up saying, 'Move to Delaware,' said Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Harford County Republican." READ MORE.

November 9, 2007. Washington Post: How Senators voted on slots. "According to the Associated Press, voting in favor of Senate Bill 4 to set a slots referendum were 31 senators, two more than the three-fifths needed." READ MORE.

FLASH! November 8, 2007. Comptroller Franchot to Speaker Busch: Nix Computer Services Tax. "Included in the [Senate] amendments was an extension of the Sales and Use Tax to computer services, landscaping services and video arcades. While I am frustrated by the seemingly random and arbitrary manner in which these industries have been targeted for taxation, I am particularly worried about the inclusion of computer services in this bill." READ MORE. (H/T Maryland Chamber of Commerce.)

November 8, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Md. gets OK for intercounty highway. "'We expect to begin full construction in the next few days,' said Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari." READ MORE.

November 8, 2007. Baltimore Sun: "Green Fund" fizzles in committee. "A House committee decided today to abandon the so-called "Green Fund," a fee on impervious surfaces that would have raised $85 million a year for Chesapeake cleanup. Instead, the House will likely consider a smaller, $50-million-a-year fund coming from other taxes, possibly motor vehicle titling fees." READ MORE.

November 8, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Senate nears approval of slots referendum. "Pipkin offered an amendment to strike the entire slots bill and replace it with the one the Senate approved in 2005 -- a change that would have scrapped the referendum and legalized slots as of Jan. 1." READ MORE.

November 8, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Md. Senate signs off on health insurance plan. READ MORE.

November 8, 2007. White House: In Case Congress Doesn't Quickly Pass An AMT Patch. "The President called for a one-year AMT patch in February, but instead of acting promptly to send the President a bill he can sign, the House is just now considering a bill that would raise taxes on individuals and businesses by nearly $80 billion. If Congress continues in its failure to send the President an AMT patch he can sign into law, as many as 50 million taxpayers could face delays in the processing of their returns and $75 billion in refund checks could be delayed – essentially forcing American taxpayers to extend a $75 billion no-interest loan to the IRS." READ MORE.

November 7, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Senators Rebuff Loophole Closing. "As the Maryland General Assembly considered closing a loophole to prevent corporations from entirely avoiding state taxes, Marriott International Inc. warned legislators yesterday that it might 'adjust operations' if they alter the tax system." READ MORE.

November 7, 2007. Washington Examiner Editorial: Two Democrats step up for Maryland. "Every citizen should thank Baltimore County Sen. James Brochin for having the courage to act upon his conscience and in the best interests of his constituents. Only four more Democratic senators need to come to their senses and support a tax-busting filibuster to stop this madness." READ MORE.

November 6, 2007. Grover Norquist to Free State no-new-taxes pledge signers: oppose the tax hike and support the filibuster. "As a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, you have vowed to Maryland taxpayers that you will oppose and vote against and all efforts to raise taxes. In doing so, you have protected their best interests. Now is the time to remain steadfast and refuse to accept any tax hike that may be put on the table." READ MORE.

November 6, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Panel reworks revenue package. "The Senate has taken the lead on considering O'Malley's tax and gambling proposals while the House of Delegates has looked for significant spending cuts. However, members of the House committee that handles tax measures were briefed on the Senate's plans Tuesday, and they said they expect to make only minor changes." READ MORE.

November 6, 2007. Examiner: State Senate committee amends Md. governor's tax proposal. "A state Senate committee on Tuesday approved big changes to Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget deficit plan, proposing to raise an additional $260 million in sales tax revenue and $25 million more in income tax." READ MORE.

November 6, 2007. "The Democrat Conference Report includes more than 150 pages of earmarks that would spend millions of taxpayer dollars on entities like the LBJ foundation in Austin, a Jazz museum in Kansas City, and a Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. In addition, the Conference Report contains secret, new earmarks that were added after both the House and Senate passed each spending bill. And among the nine secret new earmarks that Democrat leaders are asking taxpayers to foot the bill for is the Thomas Daschle Center for Public Service ($1,000,000)." READ MORE.

November 5, 2007. Baltimore Examiner: Time for Grasmick to go. "Government keeps forcing taxpayers to spend more per pupil each year, while Maryland students’ tests scores on a nationally administered test continue to drop or barely rise. READ MORE.

November 5, 2007. Examiner: Ditch Government Planning. "Name a contemporary problem — traffic congestion, homelessness, lack of affordable housing — all can be traced back to past government planning mistakes. Yet despite all evidence to the contrary, many Americans still expect the planners to miraculously get it right the next time around. Better to fire the planners and let free people, free minds and free markets use the genius of their freedom." READ MORE.
Cato Institute: Debunking Portland: The City That Doesn't Work. "Portland should dismantle its planning programs, and other cities that want to maintain their livability would do well to study Portland as an example of how not to plan." READ MORE.

November 4, 2007.Baltimore Sun: Parts of slots plan falter. "Other elements of the governor's plan to resolve Maryland's projected $1.7 billion budget shortfall could also change in the coming days. In particular, his plan to expand the sales tax to real estate management and health clubs could be scrapped and replaced with new levies on other services, lawmakers said." READ MORE.

November 4, 2007. Washington Times: 'Green Fund' unlikely to get OK. "Although a House committee began work yesterday on the Green Fund bill, the Senate was not considering any similar legislation. The chairman of the Senate's committee that handles environmental bills, Sen. Joan Carter Conway, said a Green Fund was not going to be taken up by the Senate until next year." READ MORE.

November 3, 2007. Washington Times: O'Malley tax plan on ascent in Senate. "Mr. Miller, Southern Maryland Democrat, said lawmakers will work through the weekend and into next week "until we get the entire — I stress the word 'entire' — package passed through the Senate and over to the House." READ MORE.

November 3, 2007. Washington Post: "Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) gathered with a couple of dozen slots opponents. "The tide is turning in our favor and the forces of evil are on the defensive," Franchot said. He called legalizing slot machines a 'sleazy, predatory, corrupt, regressive tax on poor people.'" READ MORE.

November 2, 2007. Washington Post: Heated Testimony, No Consensus on O'Malley's Tax Measures. "Karen Syrylo, a state taxation consultant and a member of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, said that O'Malley's proposal has led some business owners to voice a desire to relocate to Northern Virginia." READ MORE.

November 2, 2007. Washington Post. O'Malley Slots Plan Arouses Suspicions. "It appears there is every intention of favoring politically connected special interests," Del. Steven R. Schuh (R-Anne Arundel) said yesterday at a news conference at which Republicans outlined a plan that would allow operators to bid to put slots at six locations anywhere in the state." READ MORE.
TBN suggests that the House of Delegates Republican leadership is forfeiting any claim to the small-government mantle by their support of the slots tax - - - whether their version or anyone else's. Slots revenues would simply feed state bureaucracies which, in turn, will become even more voracious tax consumers.

November 1, 2007.House Republican Caucus Says No Slots Referendum in Special Session. “'We are elected to come here to Annapolis to make the tough choices' said Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank. 'We have been wrestling with this issue for five years, and to pass the buck to the people we are paid to represent because of backroom political deals is irresponsible.'” READ MORE.
TBN asks how many years does it take a Republican whip to understand that slots are a tax?
UPDATE! See chart from House of Delegates GOP: Differences between the Governor's slots proposal and the House Minority Leader's slots proposal.

November 1, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Transportation tax play changes urged. "Several business groups, including the Greater Baltimore Committee, said O'Malley's bill, which would generate an additional $400 million per year for transportation projects, is not enough." READ MORE.

November 1, 2007. Stopping eminent domain abuse. Bernard W. Miltenberger reports: "I would like to thank Mayor Arthur Bond and the Commissioners of Frostburg, Maryland for Resolution 2007 - 54. Frostburg is the first municipality in the State of Maryland that sets forth a City Policy that will not use Eminent Domain to acquire private property from any of its citizens or businesses unless the transaction is to provide for a clearly defined public purpose and that the property will remain in public ownership. Adopted the 25th day of October 2007. P.S. Just in case you were wondering why you haven't seen this new resolution covered by the Cumberland Times News? Well, I guess Mike Sawyers and the Cumberland Times didn't feel that a resolution that protected your private property was news worthy? Go Figure!!!!!"

November 1, 2007. Baltimore Sun: Slots casinos would pay 70% tax. "Maryland slot machine operators will pay one of the nation's highest casino tax rates - effectively 70 percent - if voters approve Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to legalize the devices, and some industry analysts say that would mean low-end facilities catering mostly to the local population." READ MORE.

November 1, 2007. Investing in Freedom - - - The ‘miracle’ of California’s new ‘Divest Iran’ law. "This nation at war needs more security-minded political stalwarts like Assemblyman Joel Anderson, a freshman Republican legislator from San Diego, who is doing yeoman’s work to help stop the threat of terrorism from regimes such as the one in Tehran. Last January, he introduced crucial and innovative legislation, AB 221, to prohibit state retirement boards from investing in companies conducting business in Iran. In September, the bill finally passed unanimously in both the California Senate and Assembly, after indefatigable efforts by Anderson in overcoming opposition on several fronts. In October, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law." READ MORE.

November 1, 2007. Victor Davis Hanson on the Farm Bill. "Agribusiness lobbyists fund politicians’ campaigns. In return, grateful politicians promise donors someone else’s federal dollars. Then both groups think up creative ways to keep the money rolling in." READ MORE.