Attitude Problem on Tax Reporting
Why is The Baltimore Sun perpetuating the myth that your money belongs to the government and not you?
The big political news today (other than the Democrats last Hail Mary attempt to pass Congressional districts that pass judicial muster) was the fact that Governor Larry Hogan announced a deal that will provide meaningful tax cuts for Marylanders, particularly the much-needed tax break for retirees that the Governor has been talking about for going on ten years.
Needless to say, this is all a very big deal.
But I don’t want to talk about the deal, I want to talk about the way the deal was reported on by The Sun.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and the top Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly agreed on a package of tax cuts that will slash state income taxes for most Marylanders age 65 or older, exempt many child care and medical products from state sales tax, and create a new tax credit for businesses that hire Marylanders from groups who often struggle to find jobs.
OK, so far so good. Then things go south.
The deal, projected to cost the state $1.86 billion over the next five years, combines a tax break for retirees and other seniors — the outgoing governor has pitched a retiree tax cut for years — with smaller tax cuts that Democratic lawmakers have advanced this spring as a way to help working families.
Take a look at that again. The real will “cost” the state $1.86 billion over five years.
That word “cost” appears in two other places in the story:
The sales tax breaks would eliminate the 6% state sales and use tax on items like diapers, baby bottles, infant car seats, certain thermometers and blood pressure monitors. That’s expected to cost the state $115.6 million in lost revenue over the next five years.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit proposal would mirror an existing federal program of the same name. The credits, projected to cost Maryland $195 million over the next five years, will give a state tax break to companies that hire people who might otherwise face challenges finding work, including the disabled, military veterans, the long-term unemployed, those with criminal records or residents of low-income neighborhoods.
I’ve got some bad news for Bryn Stole and the editors who approved this for publication in The Sun: these tax cuts aren’t going to cost the state a dime.
Maryland so far is not entitled to a single dollar of the projected $1.86 billion that The Sun says this deal will “cost.” These revenues are not real dollars. They are not real money that is being spent right now.
The accurate way to describe it would be as follows: “The deal, projected to reduce anticipated tax revenues by $1.86 billion over the next five years, combines a tax break for retirees and other seniors
Any legislative deal on taxes can’t cost the state a penny because it’s not their money yet. Retirees haven’t earned that money, nor have they committed to live in Maryland during that time period. You can’t assume that people were going to buy certain health care items in Maryland with the sales tax in place; many of them could otherwise buy them out of state or go without.
This is a problem that we see time and again from elected Democrats; they believe that government should get their cut of revenue before you receive it. They think they are entitled to spend as much of your money as they see fit and you can keep the leftovers. That’s not a healthy way to govern or to handle somebody else’s money.
Which leads me to this question: Why is The Baltimore Sun perpetuating the myth that your money belongs to the government and not you?