Published on Friday, March 16, 2012

There's a method to Gov. Martin O'Malley's apparent political madness in pressuring the General Assembly to slap a new 6 cent sales tax on each gallon of gasoline sold in Maryland. Like a shady, fast-talking used car salesman, time is his enemy. O'Malley needs a gas tax hike passed now (before the average price of gasoline, already at $3.83 per gallon, soars to $4.25 or more by the end of May) because he needs money to spend on mass transit to reward his environmental and union supporters.

Published on Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The more science discovers how the mind works, the less rational humans are revealed to be.

Published on Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Be prepared for higher taxes, Wicomico County residents. State legislators are poised to enact an income tax hike and a variety of other tax and fee increases to pay for the state’s spending. Their plans to shift part of the funding obligation for teacher pensions to the counties and to place new restrictions on education funding will ultimately mean increases in county taxes. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. If our legislators would truly trim spending there would be no need for state and county tax hikes. 

Published on Friday, March 09, 2012

Maryland's General Assembly has recently been discussing a "doomsday" budget consisting entirely of spending cuts. In doing so, legislators have unintentionally flipped the historical meaning of "doomsday," and its relation to taxes, on its head. During the late 11th century, William I, the Norman conqueror of England, needed a way to assess the value of properties in the land he had just invaded. He commissioned a large-scale survey, and his tax assessors recorded their judgments about the value of land in a large volume, the Domesday Book - so called because its assessments of property value, and thus the taxes owed to the king, were immutable as Doomsday. Thankfully, in modern times we can appeal property tax assessments, but in medieval England, the tax assessor's judgment inspired the same feelings of fear as the Day of Judgment.

Published on Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Read news headlines and it is easy to discern that the rules that apply to the rest of us often bypass those in power.

Published on Friday, March 02, 2012

State employees find more money and additional jobs in the governor’s proposed fiscal 2013 budget, but union leaders are still hoping for additional revenue streams to avert future cuts.

Published on Thursday, March 01, 2012

Governor had said residents would pay an extra $191.

Published on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

In September 1999, Jim and Donna Navarro received some of the worst news that parents can hear: their four-year-old son Thomas had a virulent form of brain cancer called medulloblastoma. The following months would subject them to the heart-wrenching pain that only parents of a very sick child can understand. But the Navarros would suffer additional torment from a clash of politics and medicine. Such clashes will become more common in the future as the nation implements its new health care law.

Published on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Senator Garagiola's failure to report outside income blamed on confusion over language.

Published on Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Taxes and presidential aspirations are inflating in Maryland.