Posted on 05/23/2012 7:51:09 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law a package of tax increases Tuesday targeting six-figure earners, tobacco users and companies engaged in real estate transactions to cover record spending on education.
In a two-hour ceremony, it was easily the most recognizable measure O’Malley (D) signed but hardly the most popular. Rather, union members, minorities and interest groups crowded the State House to celebrate more than 200 lesser-known and often narrowly tailored bills. They passed the General Assembly with little fanfare but, taken together, will color the state’s social and political identity a slightly deeper shade of blue.
The bills included efforts to stimulate the economy, protect the environment and help family farms. And nearly a century after three-quarters of U.S. states ratified the 17th Amendment — which allowed U.S. senators to be elected instead of appointed by state legislatures — Maryland got on board.
One of the first bills O’Malley signed was a capital budget, which will accelerate borrowing of more than $100 million to promote job growth through construction and maintenance of schools, parks and public housing.
Answering a call from President Obama, Maryland will raise the age that children will be required to stay in school, from 16 to 17, and raise it again within five years, to 18.
Maryland will also continue expanding collective-bargaining rights to state employees, increase tax breaks for solar, geothermal and other green-energy projects, and become the first state to ban arsenic in chicken feed.
In addition, officials will develop a network of parking and charging stations for electric vehicles, study whether to issue citations rather than jail time for hundreds of minor crimes, and race ahead with implementing Obama’s health-care overhaul.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Why? I graduated from high school at 16 and UCSD at 19. Has the teachers union arranged to keep the little darlings incarcerated in the K-12 putrid public schools until age 18? Is this all about "job security" for unionized teachers instead of promoting academic excellence for students?
I can’t wait to get out of this hell hole.
Why would you stay here?
Everything is for the illegal aliens. State funding of “immigrant” centers.
Illegal aliens are all around me. They are crowding the schools.
And that’s the excuse D’oh Malley gave to increase taxes.
The DREAM act for Maryland passed, but it is on the Nov. ballot.
Gay marriage passed but is on the Nov. ballot.
D’oh Malley is a joke. Maryland used to be a nice state. In the 1960s.
$100,000 is “rich.” They tax soda. They have a 5 cent plastic bag tax.
Their income tax rate is 8% +/- the new additional tax.
They really cheaped out -— they are reducing the standard exemption
AND increasing the rate above 100,000.
They really are chiselers.
Why would any small business continue to add employees in MD?
You gotta be crazy.
It’s the next California.
Move to Virginia. Move south. Move move move out!!
Moving out! of Maryland
And these will be an EPIC Fail.
And these will be an EPIC Fail.
My parents sold their home of 30 years on the Chesapeake Bay and moved back to Virginia. Hooray!
Not to mention the I-95 toll booth in MD now extorts $6.oo for the privelege of driving the few miles in the state. I don’t live in MD but I still despise the likes of O’malley.
What a creep of a leftist he is.
Really Preamble,
have you forgotten Carroll’s sacred trust, or Howard’s warlike thrust? Eh?
does that count for nothing?
A toll booth on an interstate?
I left maryland, THE Freak state, for Utah a couple weeks ago. Now, all I can do is laugh at the moonbat asshat morons who “run” that worthless, putrid liberal hellhole of a state. OWE-mally is such a buffoon.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Free...free at last!
My people were here before the freaks took over and by God, we will not run away from them in retreat.
[maybe next time NoVa will do better]
A toll booth on an interstate?
You have no idea. It costs a FORTUNE to drive from Maryland to New Jersey. I could not believe it. And just to leave Maryland can cost about 15 bucks.
LOL! Not to mention being the Battle Queen of yore!
That's great, really great. You're going to keep some of these thugs in school until they reach greater muscular maturity. I can imagine that high school teachers already have a problem with physical control of 16-year-old boys (primarily) who don't want to be there and disrupt the classroom. Now you'll have them controlling young men. Lots of luck with that.
But, heck, it's Maryland. What do you expect?
Nevada, Arizona and probably Utah are trying to get a toll put on Interstate 15 between Mesquite, NV and St. George, UT.
What the hell are gas taxes for? Oh yeah, "General Fund" issues.
Both have been betrayed by the idiots, communists, and morlocks in Baltimordor, MontCo, PG, and Annapolis.
I'm a Maryland native and a graduate of the University of Maryland. Fear the Turtle!
I punched out. MD has become the "F*ck You!" State.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.