The state senate is considering the budget for the next fiscal year. As you are probably well aware, there are a lot of tax and fee increases in it. These senators just can’t seem to find any more spending to cut. Taking a look at the bill, however, it seems to me that they aren’t trying very hard to cut spending. Here are just a few of the things this budget bill contains that could easily be classified as wasteful and unnecessary:

Miscellaneous grants to private nonprofits by the Board of Public Works -- $5.8 million

Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives -- $7.9 million

Governor’s Grant Office -- $374,000

Historic St. Mary’s City Commission -- $3 million

Department of Aging -- $48 million

Corporate welfare in the form of the Maryland Stadium Authority -- $34.4 million

Sustainable Communities Tax Credit -- $7 million

Maryland Health Benefit Exchange -- $26.5 million

Buying and operating slot machines in private casinos -- $257.6 million

Land acquisition -- $4.1 million

Maryland Racing Commission -- $86.9 million

Teacher development -- $41 million

Funding for miscellaneous educational organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Junior Achievement of Central Maryland -- $4.1 million

Senatorial scholarships -- $6.5 million

Delegate scholarships -- $5.3 million

Corporate welfare through the Division of Business and Enterprise Development -- $74.3 million

Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts -- $27.4 million

Maryland Technology Development Corporation (more corporate welfare) -- $13.6 million

Covering the Baltimore Convention Center’s operating deficit -- $1.9 million

Covering the Ocean City Convention Center’s operating deficit -- $46,000

Covering the Hippodrome Performing Art Center’s operating Deficit -- $373,000

If the state is strapped for revenue, then eliminating (or even cutting) funding for the superfluous programs on this list seems like an obvious choice (and these are only a few of the wasteful programs in the budget). But our legislators are unwilling to do this, so we get saddled with significant tax and fee hikes.

To sum it up, your taxes are going up so that the state can pay for slot machines for private casinos, give money to the horse racing industry, provide welfare for for-profit corporations, pay for old Lawrence Welk episodes on Maryland Public TV, and give grants to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.