Sales Tax

Two tax plans that hurt the working poor To the editor: What do a Maryland transportation-funding commission and presidential candidate Herman Cain have in common? Both are proposing plans to raise revenue that will devastate the working poor. Cain's 9-9-9 plan will decrease his own personal taxes while dramatically increasing taxes on the working poor. The sales tax, in particular, will hurt. There are many families of four living below the poverty line despite having one or more family members working one or more jobs.

When Mike Osborne heard about Maryland's decision to drop its sales tax for a week to coincide with back-to-school shopping, he knew he would be visiting some stores. “(It's) one of the few breaks I'll get on taxes in my lifetime, that's for sure,” Osborne said as he shopped for clothes for his 17-year-old son in the crowded Aeropostale store at Valley Mall Sunday afternoon. Shop Maryland, which began Sunday and continues through Saturday, allows shoppers to avoid the state's 6 percent sales tax on apparel and footwear priced at $100 and less.

Maryland's sales tax holiday week begins today and runs through Saturday. Most clothing and footwear priced up to $100 is free of Maryland's sales tax during the one-week period. "The tax-free week was a great success last year," said Patrick Donoho, president of the Maryland Retailers Association. "It got consumers out shopping again after suffering hard economic times. This year, we hope more consumers will take advantage of the substantial savings offered by local retailers during this week.

Christopher B. Shank said his strongest feeling about the debt-ceiling battle in Washington, D.C., is as an American citizen, not as a Maryland state senator. “I am deeply frustrated at both sides at their inability to get the job done,” Shank, R-Washington, said Monday. He said elected officials - Republicans and Democrats - go to Annapolis to work on state issues. One party might challenge the other party during the legislative process, but in the end, the General Assembly fulfills its responsibilities, he said.

Maryland is dropping its sales tax on certain products for a week, an effort timed to coincide with back-to-school shopping. Shop Maryland Week will be Aug. 14 to 20. Qualifying apparel and footwear will be exempt from the state's 6 percent sales tax. The state held similar tax holidays for a week in 2001, five days in 2006 and a week in 2010. Maryland Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot, a Democrat, said Monday at Premium Outlets at Hagerstown that the tax-free week is a temporary reprieve for state residents.

Local proprietors bracing for Maryland’s 3-percentage-point hike in alcohol sales tax that takes effect Friday said the impact of the legislature’s decision is still months away. “It’s too early to tell how much this will affect businesses in Washington County,” said Lou Thomas, president of the Washington County Restaurant and Beverage Association and owner of The Yellow House in Boonsboro. “Sure, it’s going to hurt,” he said. “Let’s face it, this is a 50 percent increase in the tax rate.” Maryland sales and use tax on alcohol is increasing from 6 percent to 9 percent.

Strapped for cash, as always, the Maryland General Assembly increased the sales tax on alcoholic beverages from 6 percent to 9 percent this session. We have less problem with the tax itself, than we do with the fact that, as always, what should be a matter of statewide benefit has been twisted into a none-too-subtle money grab by the metropolitan areas without consideration of the tax’s effect on more rural areas. The alcohol tax hadn’t been raised in decades, and while we doubt proponents’ claims that it will reduce alcohol abuse and underage drinking, this tax hike was probably preferable to some other revenue streams the state might have tapped into.

After reading Allan Powell's "Kentucky Edutainment" op-ed piece, we found it remarkable that a professor (albeit retired) simply did not do his homework. He appeared to write  knowledgeably about our future full-size Noah's Ark in northern Kentucky, but his starting point was wrong. We hope he was more careful when imparting knowledge to his students. Powell evidently based his column on second-hand information (i.e., using other newspaper columnists, bloggers, etc.) rather than confirming with original sources.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller in Martinsburg on Wednesday praised acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin as a "terrific leader," and West Virginia's senior senator said he hoped there would not be a special election for governor in 2011. "I don't say that politically. It just doesn't make sense, does it?," Rockefeller told a large group of Eastern Panhandle elected officials and business leaders gathered for a roundtable discussion on economic development. Seated next to Tomblin in Berkeley County Council Chambers, Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

Maryland might lose about $19 million in an upcoming sales-tax-free week, but a retail spending surge could help jumpstart the economy, Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot said Thursday. The state sales tax was waived for five days in 2006 and a week in 2001. Franchot's office had no information on the 2006 impact, but said the state lost about $5.1 million in revenue during the 2001 week, less than a projection of $6.7 million. Retail sales rose about 10 percent, more than the prediction of 7.4 percent.