Special session put burden of keeping Maryland going on the middle-class

Friday, Dec. 21, 2007

Once again the Democrat leaders representing only themselves won and all the citizens and businesses they represent lost. This is not just my humble opinion. The Maryland legislative staff analysts said in The Washington Post ‘‘the tax burdens of typical Maryland families will increase.”

The Washington Post editorial on Nov. 21 said stated ‘‘raising $1.4 billion in new taxes starting next year, puts a comparatively heavier burden on the middle class.”

The CEO of the Charles County Chamber of Commerce, the president of St. Mary’s Chamber of Commerce and a St.Mary’s College of Maryland political scientist point to the negative business environment these new taxes cause.

Even the Maryland comptroller, the man in charge of Maryland finances, actually a Democrat, Peter Franchot has opposed this special session, and he’s in trouble now.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said ‘‘Franchot is hurting himself.” I tend to think Mr. Franchot didn’t want to hurt his fellow Marylanders. Now that’s a unique concept.

Maryland Democrats claim to represent the middle class, the working class. How then can we reconcile what was done to us in Annapolis, a 20 percent increase on sales taxes, more taxes on vehicle titling, and on and on?

Mr. Miller, what about the three-legged stool for economic recovery? What happened to the spending cuts leg of that stool? Seems we’ll just have to trust them on that one.

What about the property tax roll back? Seems that didn’t work out either. Maybe next time.

But what a three-week party it was. Up late every night with little adult supervision. First there was the governor’s rousing speech, then there was the usual whining and arm twisting. Then there was the drama, ‘‘Back To The Future,” otherwise known as slot machine are our future. Next they played ‘‘tag, you’re it,” sticking taxes on the back of every man and woman in Maryland, not to mention the businesses.

Finally, the grand finale — the Sen. Roy Dyson (D-Calvert, St. Mary’s, Charles) tap dance: The de facto vote for taxes (voting to break the filibuster) before voting against taxes in open session — now that’s a leader someone can follow.

I know I am painting with a broad brush here, but the fact is, we have too many small-time career politicians who can’t find a solution to anything unless there is a tax attached to it. If it wasn’t for the fact that Maryland is adjacent to Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia, the de facto job engines, we’d be in real trouble. I work for a defense contractor in Northern Virginia. I glanced around the parking lot and half the cars or more are from Maryland. I challenge anyone to find that in Maryland.

Our current leaders are steadily chasing businesses out of Maryland, thus narrowing down the tax base. The news said another one left recently. So who is going to pay the bills?

The good old Maryland middle-class worker going to a job in D.C. or Virginia.

Make no mistake: What just happened in Annapolis was an attack on a symptom, a short-term political fix. Be assured these lazy politicians will be back to the well real soon. More and more tax dollars will be needed to chase more and more pet projects, social programs and special interest programs that never get solved. Nothing ever gets fixed.

Our tax policy doesn’t solve problems, it just separates out groups of winners and losers. How long will Maryland voters tolerate second-rate representation, year after year? Tort reform for medical malpractice left unfinished. The Chesapeake Bay, largest estuary in the country, can’t get fixed.

Why not get the right malpractice laws passed, encourage research facilities from around the world to come here by incentives? Get corporations involved with incentives to fix the bay.

What about the old notion of local high-tech jobs so people wouldn’t be wearing out the roads getting out of Maryland every morning?

The old quote used to be, ‘‘Maryland, America in miniature.”

We have the best variety of natural resources and the most highly educated citizen base in the country and the best these politicians can come up with is taxes and slot machines for all. A healthy economy brings businesses with high paying jobs and produces more taxable products, thus spreading out the tax base. I must have been out of town when the current Democrats leaders laid out their plan to accomplish that. The closest I’ve seen to a plan is the annual pleading; please don’t close the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Does anyone remember when Baltimore was the booming job engine of Maryland? How about agriculture?

The Glendening legacy, no-plan tobacco buy-out, killed profitable farming in Southern Maryland; we now only grow subdivisions for commuters.

Lazy politicians, who should be people of vision, instead have let Maryland drift toward just being a big bedroom community for Washington, D.C. But why should these politicians change their habits? They keep getting re-elected.

The real clincher is these same deficient politicians now expect the Maryland voters to vote for slot machines so they, the politicians, won’t get blamed for this travesty of common sense.

Maryland deserves and can do much better.

Thomas Sasscer, Huntingtown