O’Malley can learn a lesson from Roosevelt

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007

O’Malley can learn a lesson from Roosevelt

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Here we are. Nearly half of the states are friendlier to business but Gov. Martin O’Malley wants to sink our state to the bottom of the heap. More business would mean more jobs and more jobs would mean more income to tax, but nooooo!

O’Malley likes the easy, expedient answers. Tax the poor. To the regressive lottery add slots. Maybe we could follow Nevada and open casinos; New Jersey did it.

Whatever you do, Mr. O’Malley, don’t spend the money on the people who pay. We know where the lottery money comes from, but do the schools in poor neighborhoods get the latest stuff?

O’Malley wants to add another dollar to cigarette taxes, but will he spend it to help cigarette addicts quit? Why, no. If cigarette addicts quit who would pay for someone else’s health care?

Raise the sales tax? Here’s another regressive tax on the poor who can’t go across state lines or buy tax-free on the Internet.

Franklin Roosevelt ended the Great Depression by putting people to work. Too bad Maryland’s governor cannot see the value of jobs and business. The ‘‘technology corridor” is running off to other states while O’Malley tries to figure out how to scare more business away.

Bernard Latt, Germantown