Stop everything. We know you?re busy. But as Abraham Lincoln said, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
In an era when technology makes communication so convenient and cheap, no excuse exists for silence on the tax increase plan emerging from the General Assembly.
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Only in Greek tragedies are the affairs of men left to fate. We elect our representatives. We can influence how they vote ? if and only if we make our opinions known. Stop checking People.com, sending text messages and forwarding e-mail jokes everyone has already seen for five minutes and contact your legislators. These taxes are no joke. The plan, crafted by a secret group of 10 or 12 legislators from both chambers, could pass as soon as this weekend.
Think hard for a minute about how the “fair taxes” for “working families” will affect your family. The tax plan will not ? as Gov. Martin O?Malley initially and repeatedly claimed ? maintain or lower taxes for 83 percent of Marylanders. It will raise them on 100 percent of Marylanders and all those who buy anything in the state.
No one can escape a 20 percent higher sales tax. Cigarettes will rise $1 per pack ? an extra $365 for the pack-a-day smoker. And the government will siphon more from those high-earners with the ability to buy the most and more importantly ? create jobs by starting or investing in Maryland companies. And unless you are some of the very few who rely solely on public transportation, you will pay 20 percent more to title your car in Maryland.
Tyranny ? especially tyranny in the name of the public good ? must be protested. The government does not need our money, as numerous analyses show that merely lowering the growth rate of state spending would eliminate the deficit. And O?Malley?s and Democrats? revenue estimates ? which show the state closing its $1.7 billion “structural” deficit with the new tax regime ? do not take into account that people will spend less or buy elsewhere with the new taxes in place. Worse, people and businesses will just move out of our state or not come here in the first place.
Nowhere have we seen a plan to cut government salaries or eliminate the hundreds of millions wasted by government agencies ? as highlighted by the legislature?s own Office of Legislative Audits. This makes legislators? behavior different only in scale from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf?s demands for billions from U.S. taxpayers to patrol the Afghan border for terrorists without being able to account for how the money is spent.
We must not be cowards through complacency. Contact your legislators. Silence only makes it easier for legislators to rob us again the next time around.
HERE ARE THE POWERFUL LEADERS WHO ARE INCREASING YOUR TAXES Let them know what you think about it. Click the leader’s name to send an e-mail.
IN THE SENATE:
President of the Senate
Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. Dist. 27, (D) Prince George¹s, Calvert 301-858-3700
President Pro Tem
Nathaniel J. McFadden, Dist. 45 (D) Baltimore City , 410-841-3165
Edward J. Kasemeyer, Dist. 12 (D) Baltimore, Howard Cos., 410-841-3653
James E. DeGrange Sr., Dist. 32 (D) Anne Arundel Co., 410-841-3593
IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES:
Speaker of the House
Michael E. Busch, Dist. 30 (D) Anne Arundel Co., 301-858-3800
Speaker Pro Tem
Adrienne A. Jones, Dist. 10 (D) Baltimore Co., 410-841-3391
Majority Leader
Kumar P. Barve, Dist. 17 (D) Montgomery Co., 301-858-3464
Frank S. Turner, Dist. 13 (D) Howard Co., 410-841-3246
And let YOUR senator and representative know how you feel. Click here to find out how to contact them.
Plus, click here to download “Comparison of Revenues Under Administration, Senate and House Plans, 2007 Session.”
Join the discussion and take our poll in today’s examiNation Baltimore: How will the ‘fair taxes’ for ‘working families’ affect your family?
