TAXPAYER BREAKING NEWS, January 2004, continued from Home Page . . .

January 30, 2004. Maryland voting machines flawed, consultant says, reports the Washington Times. "Maryland is spending $55.6 million to move toward an entirely electronic system that does not provide traditional paper ballots that could be used in case of a recount."

January 29, 2004. Sales tax for services proposed, reports the Daily Record. “The bill doesn’t take into account the fact that these taxes will have to be administered and collected by small businesses that might not have the capacity to do so,” said Ellen Valentino, director of the National Federation of Independent Business/Maryland. “They are the ones that own the beauty shop, the pet services and the towing companies.”

January 22, 2004. The Washington Post reports on Gov. Ehrlich's budget. "Most Republican lawmakers reacted favorably to the spending plan, though it includes a variety of new taxes and fees unlikely to win the support of the party's most conservative lawmakers."

January 22, 2004. Gov. Ehrlich announced yesterday his $23.8 billion state budget, reports The Baltimore Sun. "Asked if local tax increases were forthcoming, [David] Bliden [executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties] said, 'We can only look at recent history.' Thirteen of Maryland's 24 local jurisdictions raised property or income taxes last year, he said, largely in response to state aid reductions." The Sun further reported that: "The governor has also proposed charging some out-of-state residents who earn money in Maryland additional income tax. The new charge would fall on those who live in states without income taxes, and would raise $39 million. Increases in fees charged by various agencies would contribute another $25 million."

January 19, 2004. Victor Davis Hanson sets out the case against Bush's immigration plan in The Wall Street Journal. "Instead of squabbling over piecemeal legislation in an election year, rolling amnesties or a return of braceros, we might as well bite the bullet and reconsider an immigration policy that worked well enough for some 200 years for people from all over the world. Reasonable advocates can set a realistic figure for legal immigration from Mexico. Then we must enforce our border controls; consider a one-time citizenship process for current residents who have been here for two or three decades; apply stiff employer sanctions; deport those who now break the law--and return to social and cultural protocols that promote national unity through assimilation and integration."

January 18, 2004. MTA's Richard Falknor on Pork and Policy. "This month, the president should have his budget arm prepare a list of obvious pork in H.R. 2673 irrespective of the party or position of the frivolous project’s congressional sponsor. The White House should release the list. The president should notify the Congressional leadership that he will veto this appropriations bill unless these projects are removed." Hear message on the Free Congress Foundation's News on Demand. Listen in Real Media. Listen in MP3 Format (To download this file to your hard drive for later editing - right click on the link and choose 'Save As')

January 18, 2004. Governor to urge user fees for Bay, reports The Washington Post. "Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will propose new fees on boaters who dock at marinas and on residents who want to build on wetlands to help pay for programs that protect inland waterways and the Chesapeake Bay, according to administration officials."

January 18, 2003. Ehrlich to offer tight budget, reports The Baltimore Sun. "The idea of imposing an additional income tax on those who earn money in Maryland but live in states without such a tax has been discussed before. Those earners already pay the state portion of Maryland's income tax, but they do not pay an additional portion to counties and the city known as the "piggy-back tax," a charge that makes Maryland's income taxes among the highest in the nation."

January 17, 2004. "Virginians must pay higher taxes to preserve the state's quality of life and maintain essential government services, leaders of three business groups said yesterday," the Washington Times reports.Comments Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance chief Arthur Purves: "Apparently these business leaders want to reward mismanagement with higher taxes. The Virginia legislature's own audit commission reports that inflation-adjusted state spending for Virginia public schools is increasing nine times faster than enrollment. It also reported that inflation-adjusted budgets for Virginia four-year public colleges is increasing more than three times faster than enrollment. The Governor cannot say why the increases were necessary or how they were spent. Rather than raising taxes, he should be reforming spending."

January 17, 2004. Virginia speaker is open to raising some taxes, reports The Washington Post. "Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell (R) said Friday that he would be willing to consider higher taxes on cigarettes and gas to balance the state budget, but he reiterated his opposition to the type of broad-based tax increases proposed by Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) and Republican leaders in the Senate.. House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said that though gas and cigarette taxes are more palatable to House Republicans than any of the other taxes under discussion, 'there is still strong sentiment for no tax increases in the House caucus.'"

January 16, 2004. Conservative groups break with Republican leadership, reports the Washington Times. "The whole purpose of having a Republican president is to lead the Republican Congress," said Paul Beckner, president of Citizens for a Sound Economy, whose co-chairman is former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas. "The Constitution gives the president the power to veto legislation, and if Congress won't act in a fiscally responsible way, the president has to step in -- but he hasn't done that. If the president doesn't take a stand on this, there's a real chance the Republicans' voter base will not be enthusiastic about turning out in November, no matter who the Democrats nominate," Mr. Beckner said.

January 16, 2004. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce voted Thursday to back a plan that would gut the Thornton education spending mandates, reports the Gazette. "Senate Minority Leader J. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-Dist. 38) of Marion Station applauded the chamber's decision, saying it was a mistake to commit the state to Thornton without dedicating a way to pay for it. He said he is drafting a bill that would stretch out the Thornton spending increase over four more years."

January 16, 2004. Governor Seeks Party Control as Fired-Up Republicans Vow Retaliation reports The Washington Post. "The loudest partisan squabbling over the next three months is expected to center on taxes. Republicans and Ehrlich have opposed most tax increases as a solution to the state's chronic budget problems, preferring instead to legalize slot machines and tax the proceeds from gambling. While many Democrats have been reluctant to tangle with Ehrlich on taxes, some are now openly pushing the idea."

January 16, 2004. Senate overrides Ehrlich vetos, reports the Baltimore Sun. "In the House, the political jockeying took an unexpected turn as lawmakers made the unusual decision of postponing action on a vetoed bill that seeks to increase state revenues through corporate taxes until nearly the end of the legislative session."

January 15, 2004. Business leaders urge Maryland gas tax rise, reports the Baltimore Sun. "'Gas taxes have always been the foundation of our transportation fund,' said Donald C. Fry, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee, which has endorsed an increase. Also supporting an increase is the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Washington Board of Trade." FLASHBACK: Two state legislators and a gubernatorial candidate opposed a proposed gas tax hike in 2002.

January 15, 2004. The entire Republican contingent of the Maryland Senate yesterday boycotted the election of the chamber's Democratic president, saying Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. has tried to stifle their input, the Washington Times reports."'It is really an in-your-face move,' Mr. Stoltzfus said of Mr. Miller's plan. 'We feel like this legislature, as liberal as it is and as left-leaning as it is, will walk over the people with strong opinions about tax increases, the Second Amendment, abortion and family values.'. 'With unity among Republican senators and working closely with the governor, we can certainly have more influence down here,'said Sen. Alexander X. Mooney, Western Maryland Republican. Last year, he alone abstained from the vote for Mr. Miller. 'It is becoming more partisan,' he said. 'You have Democrats acting out their frustration because they no longer have total control. At the same time, the Republicans feel more empowered now.'"

January 15, 2004. Md. Lawmakers Gird for Fractious Session, reports The Washington Post. "Miller said House Democrats owe Ehrlich a victory on slots because the governor agreed to an increase in the state property tax rate last year, despite opposition from the governor's Republican base. He also said it was useless for Busch to continue demanding that the governor accept higher sales or income taxes in exchange for getting a slots bill passed."

January 14, 2004. Washington Times cites MTA chief Dee Hodges in major story on Maryland taxes. [See remainder of January articles, below.]

January 14, 2004. Tax increase likely by ends of sessions, reports The Washington Times. "'Every year is a tough year, but this is a tougher year,'said Dee Hodges, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, a nonpartisan group opposed to tax increases. She said the new taxes recently dumped on the budget table in Virginia, which so far dwarf the tax proposals in Maryland, don't bode well.'We are keenly aware of Virginia,' she said. 'The two states are inextricably entwined.'"

January 14, 2004. Governor Ehrlich to trim Thornton funding, while relying on "new fees and 'surcharges,'" reports The Washington Post. "Many details of the governor's budget were not available yesterday. Ehrlich declined to say, for example, whether he intends to propose an increase in the gasoline tax or the state's vehicle registration fee to pump an extra $300 million a year into the state's road building fund for needed repairs and construction. Lawmakers said they have been told that Ehrlich intends to propose a $20 surcharge on state-issued speeding tickets. The surcharge would raise an additional $20 million a year and allow Ehrlich to repay the cash he borrowed over the next decade."

January 14, 2004. Lawrence B. Lindsey ponders former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's book in a Wall Street Journal commentary. "So, the circumstances of his departure were regrettable. But so too was his decision to make this book, The Price of Loyalty, the capstone of his career. The book does a grave injustice to the president, to the truth, and to Mr. O'Neill himself.

January 12, 2004. "Paul O'Neill is angry that the world has passed him by," writes John Fund in The Wall Street Journal. "In fact, Mr. O'Neill is a relic. The man I broke bread with was clearly a product of the Nixon and Ford administrations, in which he had served, and simply hadn't adapted to the post-Reagan Republican Party."

January 11, 2004. Harford County's Del. Barry Glassman pushes for taxes to repair schools, reports the Baltimore Sun. "Glassman is chairman of the 11-member county legislative delegation. He said that he has his work cut out for him in coming weeks to bring the delegation together in support of a bill that would give the Harford County Council the power to levy new fees and taxes to pay for the construction of new schools and to renovate others." TBN reminds faithful readers that Delegate Glassman has signed the Maryland Taxpayer Protection Pledge where he promised to "oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes." Glassman now appears in the "Hall of Shame" on the website of Americans for Tax Reform for breaking his pledge. By continuing on his present course, Glassman is once more breaking his promise.

January 9, 2004. Governor's sewage upgrade plan involves increasing fees for households, Washington Times reports. "Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday confirmed his plan to charge Maryland households $2.50 more a month on sewer bills to help municipal sewage-treatment plants reduce the amount of nutrient runoff, or nitrogen, in the Chesapeake Bay."

January 8, 2004. Bush must act now against the deficit, writes MTA's Richard Falknor in virginianewssource.com. "The president’s leadership against Islamist threats and allied rogue states is what stands between us and the abyss. His defense of Judaeo-Christian values, as a sitting president, against a high tide of secularism is truly a gift to the American people. But in addition to his performance as military commander in chief, the president cannot forget his role as chief legislator. He must no longer leave the so-called details of major legislation solely to Congressional leadership, and to the plethora of private advocates who prey on the taxpayers’ money."

January 8, 2004. No Birthday Bash for No Child Left Behind Act. A Cato analysis points out: "while the intentions in the Act may be good, instead of relying on government to 'fix' schools through testing and accountability, we should give parents the freedom to choose the schools that their children attend. No government program can do for education what choice, consumer preference, and competition can do."

January 6, 2004. Md. Speaker Still Says No to Slot Machines, reports The Washington Post. "Busch also offered the outlines of his legislative agenda, which he said would include a proposal to tax certain land transfers and dedicate the proceeds to county governments for the construction of public schools. Busch said he is also working on a proposal to raise taxes on Maryland corporations by closing what he called loopholes in the state's tax code. He said he would use the extra cash to fund higher education, which has been the target of deep cuts since Ehrlich took office last year."

January 6, 2003. American for Tax Reform's Grover Norquist and Cesar Conda on the Bush Tax Cuts, Act IV. "We believe the tax-cut package that will be the centerpiece of the 2004 economic policy of the administration and the Republican Congress should have four parts -- each with economic and political benefits."

January 6, 2004. Peter Ferrara says federal spending threatens Club for Growth's proposed Social Security reforms. "On the modest 1 percent restraint on the growth of federal spending, Messrs. Greenstein and Kogan report such a limitation would devastate the federal government. It would require elimination of 'close to half of nondefense discretionary spending outside of homeland security.'"

January 3, 2004. Baltimore Sun credits Jeff Hooke, Executive Director of the Maryland Tax Education Foundation, with changing the focus of debate over the Governor's slots license proposal. Writes the Sun's Greg Garland: "If Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is stymied in his bid to put slot machines at Maryland's horse racing tracks, it will be the result in no small part of the number crunching of a little-known investment banker from Chevy Chase. . . . [Hooke's] efforts have played a key role in shifting the debate from whether to have slots at tracks to the value of the licenses, getting the best deal for taxpayers and whether such licenses should be opened to competitive bidding." See Hooke's August 2003 analysis.

January 2, 2004. State's phonics mandate, linked to Leave No Child Behind legislation, angers some, reports the Gazette. "Eventually all Maryland teachers will need to at least be exposed to the new [phonics] methods, which is why universities certifying Maryland teachers must revamp courses to make it a central part of their curriculum, [Deputy School Superintendent Ronald A.] Peiffer said."

January 2, 2004. The clock is ticking. The pressure is on for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., reports Michael Duck of the Capital News Service. "This year, Ehrlich has pledged to reintroduce a slots bill and is also gearing up for a fight on medical malpractice legislation, reports the Capital News Service. Both are likely to generate some 'wailing and gnashing of teeth,' said Kenneth H. Masters, Ehrlich's chief lobbyist," reports Duck. "'He's not a hard worker,' added Miller, who has been a key Ehrlich ally on slots but who has pledged opposition on a medical malpractice caps."

January 2, 2004. Faces of major players at Prince George's County Public Schools changed this year, reports the Gazette, but "Test scores continued to rank among the worst in the state, and spending deficits forced major cutbacks."

January 2, 2004. Maryland legislators consider strengthening the state's already stringent rules against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, reports The Washington Post. "The bill, to be introduced at the start of the General Assembly's session this month by Del. Herbert H. McMillan (R-Anne Arundel), comes a year after state lawmakers briefly considered -- but decided against -- extending Maryland licenses to illegal immigrants."

January 2, 2004. "''Congress will address spending in some form,'" Peter Roff of Insight Magazine quotes Heritage's Danielle Doane, 'but the small ideas are not going to stop the burgeoning deficit. The Republicans needs to come up with a major initiative to confront runaway spending in a way that really gets to the heart of the matter rather than papering it over.' She continues, 'What people are looking for is a vision, a plan to address the problem.'"

January 2, 2004. The Gazette has a conversation on land use with... Audrey E. Scott, secretary of the Department of Planning. "The deficit dominates our thinking; it dominates our potential. To carry all this land is foolhardy."

January 1, 2004. Maryland home values rise at fastest rate in recent history, reports The Washington Times. "Despite the sharply higher values, state officials don't expect a repeat of taxpayer protests that erupted in 1990, when values increased 14 percent statewide," said C. John Sullivan Jr., director of the State Department of Assessments and Taxation.