The newest wrinkle was a one question survey. I am amazed that the answer I want to give for the survey question never seems to be among the choices.
In watching the jockeying between the candidates over the tax issue, I was reminded of a joke I once heard:
How can you tell that a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.
Politicians apparently believe they have to tell the populace that they do not want to raise taxes by telling us that once they are elected they will find ways to generate new sources of state income.
Excuse me--those would be taxes, right? By definition?
And then there are the politicians that want to generate new sources of tax income but no reduce the individual tax burden in the state. No one is talking about finding new tax sources, for instance legalizing and taxing marijuana like Colorado, and passing the results of that increased revenue onto the residents of the state by reducing the individual income tax rate.
One of the most creative and oppressive ideas that is gaining traction is to put a gps in my car to tax me for miles driven. Why? Well, fuel efficient cars are causing the road taxes to drop. So of course that revenue needs to be protected.
My answer--OK, but only if the state taxes on gasoline are removed. Period. If we are going to level the playing field, then let's level it completely. Do not implement a new tax source and keep a legacy tax that penalizes other people. On top of that, I am sure that I will wind up being taxed to install the gps in my vehicles, too.
And it goes on.
One new tax generates apparently needs to generate more mini taxes and fees. When is a fee not a tax? Never!
We need candidates that will not conform to the way it has always been done and come up with some new ideas.
We legalized casinos a few years ago to support schools. How come we still do not have enough money for the schools? Where is that tax revenue going?
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
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