The Bush Tax Locally

This evening I attended a meeting of my local Democratic Club at a restaurant in Millersville, MD. The meeting featured a guest speaker -- one Janet Owens, the Anne Arundel County, MD, County Executive -- and was extraordinarily englightening.

She spoke about how the No Child Left Behind (unfunded) mandate is choking our Local Government by requiring us to provide all day kindergarden by 2007, which will cost the county an estimated $76 million.

Our budget for this year? $889.6 million. Think thats a bit high to ad to the budget? So do I.

She also told us how Anne Arundel County has the lowest property taxes of any county in the state, and that our revenue cap is preventing us from raising the money we need to pay for our rapidly expanding government.

(We are scrimping and saving our pennies so that we can afford to hire staff for a new library that is about to finish construction -- the ONLY new job creation at the Government level this year.)

It's like Dean always says... it's the Bush Tax. It's not a tax cut its a tax shift.

I had always heard the Federal Candidates talk about it, but this was the first I had really heard from a respected member of my local Democratic community and government.

Thanks Janet.