The Economy
The Economy
The problem. Unemployment in Maryland has risen from 3.9% in January 2008 to 7.7% in March 2010 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Businesses that have served their communities for generations are closing their doors. In some areas, such as the once thriving Belair Road corridor in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, the devastation is obvious and appalling. Other areas, such as the Towson business district and some of the residential neighborhoods of north and northeast Baltimore City, manage to maintain a façade of affluence. Only by walking up to the door can you see that the business is empty or that weeds are taking over the walkway of the once elegant home and the porch is rotting away.
What I will do.
1. Stop using tax payers’ money for corporate welfare. This abuse takes so many forms there is not enough space to list them here, from building stadiums and convention centers at tax payer expense to using eminent domain to take properties from their rightful owners and sell them at below market value to privileged developers. Our state and local jurisdictions build roads, sewer and water lines into undeveloped areas and then complain about the “sprawl” that results. Previous governors have tried to lure large corporations into the state by promising that the first three to five years will be tax free. Before the tax moratorium is up, the corporation leaves for another state that offers a better deal.
2. Eliminate the state sales tax: “6 to 0 in 8.” By the last day of my two-term administration (i.e., eight years), the 6% sales tax will be 0%. The sales tax hurts the working poor more than any other group, as they are unable to travel to Delaware to purchase their necessities tax free. My approach to cutting state spending to make it possible to eliminate the sales tax, is to cut back on anything other than what I consider to be the legitimate functions of government:
- infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and tunnels and
- emergency response and public safety (police, fire fighters, ambulance, snow removal).
3. Ease the tax and regulatory burden on Maryland’s businesses. For years, candidates running for everything from Town or County Council to Governor have promised to make Maryland or their town or county more “business friendly.” Their solutions usually take the form of offering enormous tax breaks and services to out-of-state corporations and large developers, while the small and medium sized businesses that are the engine of our economy continue to struggle under the load of the personal income tax, a highway tax (whether their business is near a highway or not), and a constellation of agencies to which they have to apply and pay fees for permission to do business in the first place. In a heart breaking editorial (“The Death of One More Small Business in Maryland,” the Sun, March 9, 2010), Dawn Green describes the closing of her husband’s auto center that had been a fixture in Street, Maryland for 16 years. She concludes, “Living here and running a business has become too complicated and expensive. The state of Maryland overtaxes every business here. Technicians in various shops across Maryland have had to reinvent themselves to try and stay afloat. Some technicians are trying to sell everything on Craigslist, whittling away their livelihood a piece at a time.” Before all of our most energetic, enterprising and creative people leave Maryland (as the Green family plans to do), our state government must stop viewing these businesses as a limitless piggy bank that will cough up more money to help balance the budget if only they are shaken hard enough.
