A list of tax raisers

This is an extended version of an article I feature today on my Examiner.com page. Feel free to read it as I get takes on the proposed “dime-a-drink” tax from three candidates for Delegate: John Hayden, Dustin Mills, and Marty Pusey, along with State Senate candidate Chris Jakubiak. He and Hayden favor the tax while Mills and Pusey are opposed. Then come back for my argument on this.

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John makes some good points, but there are two items he didn’t consider. One is that sin taxes generally don’t bring in the revenue promised, and even the fiscal note for the 2010 Senate bill notes, “to the extent that the tax increases proposed by the bill result in a higher incidence of cross-border sales activity than is accounted for in the estimate, revenues would in turn be lower than estimated. This would most likely apply to the sale of distilled spirits, since these sales are likely to be more price sensitive than the others.” State beancounters estimated the tax would raise over $200 million but if they count on the revenue and it doesn’t come, who will make up the difference? We will.

Secondly, where does the taxation stop? As proposed, this would be a nearly sevenfold increase in the tax on distilled spirits, over sevenfold jump in the wine tax, and raise the beer tax by a factor of nearly thirteen. If passed, Maryland would have the second-highest tax on distilled spirits and highest taxes on wine and beer in the nation. Is that a way to portray being business-friendly?

What makes me even more incredulous is that Hayden would be representing a district where a significant percentage of that tax would be raised – walk into any Ocean City nightspot during the season and you would see hundreds or even thousands of patrons with a drink in their hand. It’s a highly competitive environment and these businessmen don’t need to give consumers any excuse to take their dollars up to Delaware (where drink taxes are also high but lower than those proposed.)

And while John advocates the drink tax, he stops short at raising the cigarette tax.”Any increase (in the cigarette tax) would be an unfair and harshly punitive tax on addicted smokers,” he said. And a drink tax would be different?

But the largest difference may be in philosophy. Where is it decreed that the government needs to pay for health insurance anyway? Hayden argues that the funding for these programs has to come from somewhere, but perhaps the better question lies in the need to have some of these programs at all. There’s no question that some in society need assistance, but does that funding really need to be from the government and does it need to come in a form which enhances Maryland’s reputation as a high-tax state?

It’s worth noting that many of those who signed the pledge are incumbents, but even for this noble cause they couldn’t be bothered to even have a committee vote on the bill last year – probably because they were afraid to back any tax increase in an election year. If they can’t stand up for principles even though the cause is so right in their eyes, why should we listen to them?

Candidate Wednesday: August 18, 2010

The second in the series will feature three candidates – one is running for Wicomico County Executive while the others are trying to replace Jim Mathias as a Delegate from House District 38B.

Having a more detailed budget and vowing to reduce government as John can sounds good. Cutting from the top and getting rid of “double-dipping” has its own populist appeal. Even lunch with the employees sounds good – but that’s going to eat up a lot of John’s income!

But is the ferry that big of an issue to run a campaign for County Executive on? John sounds like the opposite of Rick Pollitt in that he would be more of a hands-on executive. It would be a refreshing change in that respect.

The question I wish Matt had asked, though, was how Baker’s background in dealing with state government and unions would hold him in good stead on the level of a County Executive. In speaking with him before, the one beef he has with the Tea Party is their disrespect of unions (perhaps their anger is more with the union leadership than the rank-and-file, but it’s still there.) That’s something which may need to be reconciled in a Baker administration.

This is one of the more interesting interviews insofar as location, since it was shot in Marty’s dress shop. (Full disclosure: her dress shop is one of my advertisers as is she.) She started out a little slowly, but once the conversation got rolling her delivery improved. In some respects she is the perfect candidate, with some reluctance to serve the public in such a manner but determined to do so as a product of her background in small business and the agricultural community.

I like the part where Marty fretted about the effect on her life with the legislature being in session (I call it Maryland’s 90 Days of Terror), and certainly she raised some legitimate concerns about private property rights with the reference to HB63. (Spoiler alert: that committee bill is part of my upcoming monoblogue Accountability Project.) She’s part of a crowded four candidate field for the District 38B GOP nominations.

On the Democratic side in that same race is John Hayden.

John seemed to have a way to describe those things which were problems, but was a little short on details on how to solve them. He did make a good point regarding the coastal bays as opposed to Chesapeake Bay (a distinction which the state doesn’t always make) but seemed to have too much of a platitude for schools. And if he can “simplify” the state government it would be a Houdini act given he would be among a whole party of Democrats who are basically responsible for writing the labyrinthine code we have now.

One thing John didn’t point out is that he’s a fellow blogger; he does the Maryland On My Mind website I link to.

Unfortunately, the interview was marred by several interruptions – certainly not to the extent of Jim Rutledge’s bus interview from last week, but having a phone ring and other conversations going on didn’t help a voter decide. In fact, all three of these interviews featured seemed to be out of focus (they were among the first done so perhaps it was a guinea pig effect.)

I’ll continue this series next week with another 38B challenger, a hopeful from District 37B, and a County Council candidate – for the first time it will be an all-GOP edition. You’ll have to stay tuned and find out who gets featured.

Thanks again to Matt Trenka and Right Coast for allowing the usage of these interviews.