First, the obvious:
Maryland’s efforts to close a gaping budget shortfall next year could result in higher income taxes for the state’s more affluent residents — and a possible break for those earning less.
Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and leading lawmakers say they are giving serious consideration to overhauling the state’s tax brackets, which are among the flattest in the nation. Everyone with taxable income of more than $3,000 a year pays the same rate.
To close a “gaping budget shortfall,” Maryland could try not spending so much money. Novel, I know, but it’s been known to work for middle-, lower-, working-, and even upper-class families where expenses exceed income.
But there are (Democratic, not that it really matters) politicians involved, so that idea is not only not feasible, it’s not “fair”.
O’Malley called the structure “patently unfair” this week, saying at a Democratic breakfast in Frederick that Peter Angelos, the wealthy trial lawyer who owns the Baltimore Orioles, should not pay the same rate as “the woman who cleans his office.”
“I’m in favor of progressive taxation, where people who make a lot more pay more,” O’Malley told reporters recently.
Does everyone in Maryland pay the same dollar amount to the state? Do Peter Angelos and his cleaning woman each pay $500, to pick a random tax amount? No? Then people who make “a lot” more in Maryland already pay (a lot) more. Anyone who believes otherwise is either too dense to be qualified for public office or a liar.