| This kerwin thing is handing money to teachers unions and don’t improve outcomes unless Dems lower standards |
if you want give money to teachers unions you donate to it. Don’t for everyone else to do it |
Wow.’ Looking through the lens of one or two services is deceiving. It’s like people dropping satellite / cable who are now paying more for a comparable set of streaming services. The price goes waaay up. |
Generally public education is paid for with taxes, not private donations. |
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It did not pass!
However, there is another "well thought out" plan that they are pushing through. I'm sure they thought the service tax bill was well thought out too. I'm concerned that this was a bait and switch and this new bill was conceived out of the eye of public scrutiny. If small businesses in Maryland as well as citizens not spoken out the original bill would have passed. This new bill is being put through without public input and this is concerning as well. https://www.facebook.com/ericformaryland/posts/3194585840586317 Today in the Ways and Means Committee, we advanced the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, a once in a generation opportunity to make sure all Maryland kids have world class schools. Afterwards, the Revenues Subcommittee moved a funding package. Given tremendous concern from the public and from small business owners, the Revenues Subcommittee voted unanimously to kill HB 1628, the proposal to expand the sales tax to cover most services. Instead, we moved a smaller, well thought out package of revenue bills. These include: 1. A bill to close corporate tax loopholes by implementing combined reporting and the throwback rule in our corporate income tax. This bill also has language to help small businesses hurt by the federal changes to the SALT deduction. 2. Legislation to increase the tobacco tax and apply it to vaping products, which in addition to helping fund the Blueprint will help reduce smoking rates and improve public health 3. A bill to modernize our tax code to ensure that digital goods are taxed in the same way we tax similar non-digital goods 4. One to eliminate a tax giveaway from the federal Trump tax cuts 5. And two additional pro-small business bills from Lily Qi to create a technical assistance program and matching grants for the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Taken together, these bills get us much of the way to fully funding the Blueprint, though future legislators and Governors will have more work to do to fund the final few years of the plan. And they make our tax system more fair and help many Maryland small businesses. They will move to full committee on Friday, and the House floor next week, and then we will work with our colleagues in the Senate as they consider our ideas as well. I'm looking forward to discussing this well-reasoned package with them. But while the revenue package is important, the bill it supports is more important still. It's a moral stain that our state doesn't give every kid a great education. Providing it is also the key to our economic future. We will do nothing more important this term. |
but this money is for teachers unions |
No, it's not. |
yes it is and it will not improve outcomes unless teachers start moving in with students and making them study |
It only is if you assume that funding for public schools = donations to teachers' unions, but that would be a silly assumption that nobody would make. |
I would support a state sales tax on services if 100% of the revenue raised from state sales tax on services was used to REDUCE other taxes. What is being proposed here is NOT a means to balance taxes on services and taxes on product sales. What is being proposed here is simply another means to raise more money. Maryland must learn to live within its budget. If the GA wants to fund education (a great cause of course), then it should look for stuff to cut. Maryland taxes are already too high. |
Yes, I am confident that Maryland can cut some state programs. And I am a Democrat. |
Sanders and Warren forgot to told you this, but Europeans do pay 25% VAT on services too, not just on goods. |
Yes, and they get free healthcare and lower college costs. IMO, we balk at high sales tax rates for goods AND services because we are not used to it. If we do implement such a high tax, most people, of course will balk at it, but eventually, people would get used to it. I'm not saying I approve of high taxes, just that in the US we are not used to high sales tax, whereas in Europe they are. The VAT is included in the sale price of the good/service, so you know EXACTLY what you are paying up front, not like here where you have to calculate the sales tax on your own to figure out the total price if you want to know the actual price before you get to the register. |
That seems like a much better plan. Glad to hear MD Dems aren't *that* crazy. |
They do get much and better stuff, paid by the middle class via VAT. Not by some marvellous billionaires. You're wrong on the other point -- sometimes VAT is included in the price, sometimes it's not. You always need to ask. |