What they should do is moderate the sales tax expansion to real estate management services. I pay about $5,000 a year in condo fees. It is my understanding that condo fees would now be subject to sales tax, which means I would pay $300 a year on my condo fee in addition to my $3,000 a year for my property taxes.

Jay,

All good points but will the legislature keep its hands off the transportation budget?

Scott

Everyone says it is OK to increase gasoline tax!!

I think you ought to be aware there are people still working in their 70's & my Sister is 82 to supplement their Social Security check and need their car to get to work.

I am too old to walk to a bus!

//A better design for the impending tax increases would include a lower tax increase for high earners (make the top state rate 6 percent, not 6.5 percent, and maybe raise the level where it kicks in to $750,000 or $1 million) and a higher gas tax than what O'Malley has proposed.//

I agree. A gas-tax-hike will both spur conservation and raise the money for MUCH-needed transit improvements for the Baltimore area.

For those who complain that this is a tax on the middle class, let me tell you something: You drive too much already. Use public transit. Carpool. Better start changing your lifestyle now, because congestion ain't getting any better.

Whatever became of the tobacco settlement funds? Why isn't MOM reducing any services?

The good news / bad news about the O'Malley plan is that there are so many moving pieces, so much to like and so much to dislike, that in a special session the plan will pass pretty much "as is" or it will get hopelessly bogged down in the types of trade-offs you're describing. The dynamics of the next several weeks, now that O'Malley has put the plan out for discussion, will be interesting to watch.

(For what it's worth, I'd add a "Green Fund" reformulated as a "McMansion tax," and I'd make the GBC's gas tax increase into a less unpopular (??) "carbon tax". Anyone want to trade my taxes for .00025 on the sales tax?)

For those who complain that this is a tax on the middle class, let me tell you something: You drive too much already. Use public transit. Carpool. Better start changing your lifestyle now, because congestion ain't getting any better.

Posted by: Chris | September 25, 2007 11:40 AM

If Maryland had a decent mass transit service people would use it but it is terrible. Buses are late, the subway doesn't go anywhere and the light rail is so slow it is laughable. This isn't D.C. where you don't need a car because the subway system is great. In Maryland - you need a car.

I have an even better idea..why not simply hold the rate of increase in spending to the rate of inflation plus, say, 1%? Then we would not need to increase either tax.

Keep in mind that since housing prices got ridiculous people had to move furher out from their jobs to afford a house. That means a longer commute and no access to mass transit, and you want to hamper them with more taxes?

Yes, lets exacerbate the housing situation and hammer those of us struggling o live the "American Dream".

If you want to pay more, nothing is stopping you. There is a spot on your tax return to donate money.

What? You didn't do that. Oh right, the rest of ushould pay...

I'm a yellow dog Democrat and I earn
from 78,000 - 95,000 depending on
the contract and my taxes are really
high . I believe in paying my share , but Maryland's income tax is high now . Make the corporations and the LLC pay instead of using the loopholes they now use

Maryland is the highest income state and has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. Spending is what should be addressed not raising revenue.
The government is like an alcoholic-there is never enough money.
In five years it will be back asking for more!
States like WVa, the Dakotas etc. get along just fine without robbing their citizens blind and spending to get re-elected.
Out of control Big/Nanny Goverment will destroy our Republic!

"If Maryland had a decent mass transit service people would use it but it is terrible. Buses are late, the subway doesn't go anywhere and the light rail is so slow it is laughable."

Posted by: Jamie Davis | September 25, 2007 12:06 PM

Does no one have any concept of history or cause and effect anymore? Do we think things just sprang out of nowhere and came out in the state that they currently are?

Perhaps if Maryland had valued public transportation, the efficient and practical infrastructure to support it (density, sidewalks, etc.), and wasn't so obssessed with suburban sprawl, then maybe the public transport in this state wouldn't be so bad.

We didn't invest or care years ago and so we reap the results now. We fix it now, and later we and our children won't have to worry about a mess like this.

MD already has some of the absolute worst congestion in America; add an naturally increasing population in the areas of suburban sprawl, and then BRAC coming in a few years, and things will get nasty fast for congestion, sprawl, and the environment. Something has to be done now.

"Keep in mind that since housing prices got ridiculous people had to move furher out from their jobs to afford a house...."
Posted by: Jeff Martin | September 25, 2007 12:38 PM

Yes, the living is cheaper...except for the fact that you absolutely need a car for anything. Oh, and gas. And insurance. And parking. And repairs when problems occur. Then there's all the various fees just to get to that point (license, tilting, etc.). And of course, there's the hours lost each week in the 2nd worst congestion in America. And the fact that if anything at all happens to your car (stolen, wrecked, etc.), you're absolutely positively screwed.

You don't want to live in a city/urban area, fine, no need to justify personal desire/whim. But cheaper living? In a place where you need a car just to go buy a quart of milk? Not nearly so much.

Sorry Jay but the Baltimore O'Malley wasted what little credibility it had with it's last headline proclaiming 95% of us would be paying less taxes.

Do you really think circulation is down because everyone is "online".

"If Maryland had a decent mass transit service people would use it but it is terrible. Buses are late, the subway doesn't go anywhere and the light rail is so slow it is laughable."

Do you want to do something about it?

If you want better mass transit in this City, contact your elected officials and tell them that the BRTB's 2035 plan is unacceptable. If you don't know about it, read these two links:

http://www.baltometro.org/content/view/566/401

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.transit29aug29,0,5648838.story

The BRTB wants to spend almost three times as much on road expansion as on transit expansion in the next 28 years. This, in a state that already has the second-highest average commute time in the nation.

UNACCEPTABLE!

I am just waiting to find another state to reside as soon as I retire so I dont have to pay these outrageous state taxes for liberal, socialism, and welfare paid for by the middle class. It will cause a third world existence.

There should not be a tax gas increase!
I drive because I have to. I pay for the gas that is always increasing. I work all day long and half of my paycheck is already gone to support people on Welfare who could get a job, but don't really want to. I pay into social security, which is something I will never get to collect when I am retired. I sit in the traffic and congestion that everyone else does and let me tell you that there is no reason for it! If people would wake up and DRIVE, instead of paying attention to car accidents (which everyone JUST HAS to look at) or the guy next to you picking his nose, or the car in front of you just cut you off so you need to do the same to everyone else, why don't you figure out where you need to be going and just GO! The real issue isn't that we need to raise taxes on gas for more transportation, the issue is that people NEED to LEARN HOW TO DRIVE! It's not that hard!

I know that it would be extremely difficult to implement and even harder to enforce, but I would like to see a graduated fuel tax based on the size of the vehicle. Maybe start at the 10 cent increase if you drive a Honda Civic or similar sized car and gradually up to, say, 30 cents if you drive a Lincoln Navigator, a Hummer or some other behemoth.

Another source of revenue could be to limit the non-profit status of all of the store front "churches" that line our streets and pay no real estate taxes.

This is from a former Baltimorean: If you work in DC, do what i did...move to Northern Virginia. I got tired of the high taxes and crime. Down here I can walk the streets at night, pay about half in income taxes and ride the metro to work. The quality of life is 10 times better across the Potomac.

More roads = more cars = more congestion. Period.

Rubbernecking isn't the problem.

CARS (and the hilariously backwards tax structure that begat our current sprawl development pattern) are the problem.

Mr. Hancock, you are a tax and spend liberal. I wouldn't expect you or anyone at the Balto. Sun to say anything else.

First of all, I already pay enough for gasoline and now you think it's fair to charge me more to subsidize public transportation? Let those that need and can use public transportation pay for it. Why should it be subsidized?

Secondly, I basically drive back and forth to work and that's about it. That accounts for 94% of my gasoline usage. I cannot cut back.

This is just another example of O'Malley screwing the working middle class to benefit the folks of Baltimore City. He knows who elected him.

Earth to O'Malley, there are people who actually exist outside of Baltimore City who have to commute here. Maybe you'd be happier if all the high end work moved out of town and out to Westminster, Owings Mills, Columbia and Frederick.....

"For those who complain that this is a tax on the middle class, let me tell you something: You drive too much already. Use public transit. Carpool. Better start changing your lifestyle now, because congestion ain't getting any better."

Typical Central Maryland myopia to a STATE-WIDE problem. Public transit? In Crisfield? In Waldorf? In Cumberland? In Rising Sun? How, exactly, am I supposed to carpool when there are only 15 families within 2 miles of my house and none of us work within 5 miles of each other?

Not all Marylands live in or around Baltimore or around Washington. Stop proposing legislation on the assumption they do.

Ok so lets see here. We cant budget our money properly so we want to tax the heck out of the state? What ever happened to people balancing their check books. Maybe the state should look into this. I mean seriously how would any of this great states elected officials liked it if when I cant pay my bills I just came over to their houses and took some of their money, or better yet I put up a toll booth in their front yard and they had to pay me $2 every time they wanted to come or go.

Why are we raising taxes? Why is this always the answer? Why dont we just cut out un-needed programs that we are waisting our money on. Lets make due with what we have financially. I mean come on. STOP YOUR OVER SPENDING!!!

I feel like the state is being run by Glendening again. I swear I am going to run for political office when the next voting cycle comes around. This is ridiculous. I know I cant be the only one that feels this way.

"First of all, I already pay enough for gasoline and now you think it's fair to charge me more to subsidize public transportation? Let those that need and can use public transportation pay for it. Why should it be subsidized?"

Welcome to LIFE. All of my family works (or did work, in the case of my retired grandmother). At least 40 hours a week. AT LEAST. I'm a college graduate who currently also works. NONE of us drive. We only use public transportation, or we walk. That our tax money goes toward all those highways and roads out in the burbs that we can't get to and that I'll NEVER be able to use...well, thems the breaks. I'm pissed that so much of the transportation budget over the next few years is wrapped up in justifying suburban sprawl and congestion: the Intercounty Connector, the Bay Bridge repairs, expanding roads, etc. while the MTA-- a service that both city AND county folks use--continues to be drastically underfunded and understaffed.

"How, exactly, am I supposed to carpool when there are only 15 families within 2 miles of my house and none of us work within 5 miles of each other?"

That's sorta the whole point. That you and so many others are living in areas where there --are-- only 15 families within 2 miles, and therefore practical and efficient things like walking, carpooling, public transportation, etc. are impossible, means that we've all really messed up: in terms of lacking a vision for the future of our regional and national infrastructure, of smart development, of thinking in the long term (what's best for the next 50-100 years instead of whats best for today and tomorrow). MD's population continues to naturally grow; BRAC will add thousands of new households to a region that already has absolutely horrible congestion and sprawl. One has to worry about pollution and the remaining options for future development. If we don't start thinking differently and change how we've been going about things, it only promises to get worse.

Cut spending! Cut Spending! Cut Spending!
My real estate taxes have tripled in 10 years. Gas taxes are already at record highs. I thought we had a surplus! Is it really true what they sya about democrats? They spend, spend, spend to solve a problem.
The midwest is looking better all the time but when the east coast goes bankrupt, Hillary will bail you out.

Our house and senate members are a bunch of twits. Slots is a no! no! while Erlich is in office, but now with a democrat in office, all of a sudden slots are part of the answer. The other part of the budget shortage is damn poor money management by our state government. Make more money available, and the fools will find a way to irresponsibly waste it.

The proposed gas tax is extremely unfair to residents on the Eastern Shore, we have no mass transit,and private transportation is the ONLY way to get to work/. and yet every summer our roadways because congested with vacationers. I think the gas tax should depend on the county you live in. For ex: Balt Co should pay .more, Somerset Co shoould pay less(each county gas tax is determined by # registered vehicle)

For Rich N. - I was under the impression that the tobacco settlement was strictly for all the hospitalization and medical care for smokers who came down with cancer and stuff.

This nation is turning so socialist anymore, we might as well have a red flag with a sickle and hammer on it.

I'd like to see some REAL results of all this taxation - a really good subway system and rail system with weekend service to all the suburban towns and shopping centers - soon there will be more road than country.

Right on, Jay. A significant gas tax increase will achieve several ends - in the short term it will provide revenue for badly-needed infrastructure capacity projects (i.e. expanded mass transit), and in the longer term will decrease per capita vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Additionally, more expensive gas will increase demand among consumers for more compact and walkable development patterns with better transit access, such that driving is not required for all trips, and sprawling development is less desirable.

I'm generally in favor of consumption taxes and pigovian taxes, rather than income taxes, and agree that higher income taxes at the top of the food chain will indeed tarnish Maryland's attractiveness to business. However, Maryland must not get caught in the "race to the bottom" that many sunbelt states like Georgia and Texas have partaken in, attracting "footloose" businesses highly sensitive to taxes, with minimal benefits to their surrounding communities.

Decades of aversion to "tax and spend" has resulted in inadequate, crumbling public infrastructure. The I-35 bridge collapse in Minnesota, steam pipe ruptures in Manhattan, delays from problems caused by deferred maintenance on Amtrak; the very fact that Baltimore's Metro goes "nowhere" and its Light Rail is "laughably slow" - these are all the products of the lack of political will to pay for and build adequate public infrastructure.