Maryland Raises Taxes; EJ Swoons

Careful readers of our little blog may detect a slight anti-tax bias. We have been keeping our eye on the $1.4 billion confiscation from the good people of Maryland being perpetrated upon them by Gov O'Malley and a pliant legislature. As citizens of the Old Dominion, we are concerned about the flood of refugees from from Maryland that this takings will likely prompt. (Although we can always make space for more tax refugees, I suppose.) So we were amused (but not surprised) to read EJ Dionne's love letter to the Gov in which he waxes poetic about the righteousness of higher taxes:

Nonetheless, the sound you are hearing not only in Maryland but in state capitals across the nation is the crashing and crumbling of ideology, specifically a right-wing ideology that demonizes taxes and government while preaching that the public interest depends upon solicitude toward the comfortable and the privileged.

It is not that EJ disagrees with the conservative view; that would be no fun. Instead he is a feather-quill warrior, standing strong for the defenseless government, raging against the hated right-wingers who demonize taxes, preventing those nasty conservatives from plundering the treasury and distributing the booty to the Halliburton board of directors.

But EJ is not alone in his happy quest, he has a band of merry governors working hard to find new taxes to raise:

Those rebelling against this dying disposition include not only liberals such as O'Malley, but also moderates such as Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, both Democrats, and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.

Golly, where would we be without such rebels? Folks who boldly agree to take on, then solve the world's problems by redistributing money from you to them. Excelsior!

Democrats In Maryland House Joyfully Raise Taxes

In the dead of night last evening, the Maryland House of Delegates passed bills jacking up the already high Maryland tax burden. The bills would raise taxes on: personal income; corporate income; sales; hotel stays; cigarettes; and car titles. As we've noted before, this is nothing new for true-blue Maryland. What struck us as odd, though, is the apparent glee with which the confiscation took place. From the Times:

"I'm very proud of the members of the House of Delegates," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat. "I can't say enough about the people that stood up for what they believed in to make Maryland the most progressive and wealthiest state in the country."

Maryland may well be the most progressive state; it is unlikely, though that this cash grab will lead to it becoming the wealthiest. And WaPo continues with the theme of how raising taxes leads to happy lawmakers:

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.

As for closing that $1.4 billion budget short fall, the Times points out that those proud members of the House are meeting later today to figure out new ways to spend this money.

Congratulations to Tim Kaine & Co.

To the surprise of no one, the Democrats have eked out a majority in the Virginia Senate. Congratulations to those who worked so hard for this. WaPo has excellent coverage of the races. Although WaPo is strangely fixated on illegal immigration in a front-page piece declaring that the results prove that the voters don't care about that issue, or at least don't care about it enough to vote for republicans. Amy Gardner expands on her thesis to make broad conclusions about the state of the republican party in the Commonwealth:

The returns provided the sharpest evidence yet that Democratic gains in recent state elections represented more than a temporary dip in Republicans' popularity. Yesterday's initial results showed that a more long-term structural realignment may be occurring and that voters are increasingly drawn by Democrats' promises to improve schools and ease traffic and away from Republican conservatism on such issues as taxes and social policy, particularly in fast-growing Northern Virginia.

Ms. Gardner may be right. Or it may be that voters are upset about the republican candidates' stands on core republican issues like taxation and unhappy with some of their candidates for other reasons (see below). Or it may be that demographics are catching up with the GOP in VA. Though I have no data to back it up, doesn't it seem to be the case that as areas of the country become more urban, they trend towards the Democrats? (Think New York City.) And it is certainly the case that both the DC suburbs in Northern Virginia, as well as the Hampton Roads area around Virginia Beach are becoming more urban (or at least more densely populated). It may be that the republicans in Virginia need to rethink how they approach the electorate (think Rudy Giuliani). (So am I supporting Ms. Gardner's point or am I disuputing it -- no clear answers!)

And although I have mostly ignored them, there were also elections in Maryland yesterday.

O'Malley's Raising Taxes

I guess it's no surprise that the governor of Maryland is proposing tax increases -- bees gotta buzz, birds gotta sing, and Democrats gotta raise taxes, right? But the shear scope of the plunder proposed by the Old Line State governor is impressive for its audacity. As reported in WaPo:

O'Malley is pushing the largest overhaul of Maryland's tax code in four decades. He has proposed raising the sales tax, the corporate income tax, the tobacco tax, the titling tax on vehicles and income taxes on upper-end earners.

The Post does note that O'Malley is seeking a "modest" tax cut for "most other people" and a reduction in the state property tax rate. Yes, well that's a lovely thought, I suppose, but the bottom line is that Gov O'Malley has decided to close a $1.7 billion budget shortfall by taking it out of the hide of his constituents. Must be nice to be a democrat governor in the bluest state in the country.