Oh Yes You Will Pay...Through the Nose

More opaqueness from the man who promised transparency from our government.

Meeting behind closed doors with Democrats only, Governor O'Malley unveiled his massive, yet sketchy plan for tax increases. From the Examiner:

According to lawmakers at a breakfast meeting, O’Malley is suggesting a 20 percent hike in the sales tax, higher income taxes on the top 17 percent of households - making more than $100,000 a year - and doubling the tobacco tax to $2 a pack. The governor would cut taxes for lower income levels, provide additional credits for low wage earners and also cut the small state property tax.
He also backs slot machine gambling as a way to raise revenues.
O’Malley envisions no gas tax hike, but prefers to raise the titling tax on vehicle purchases to 6 percent. He also was not backing the so-called Green Fund, creating a new tax on development to help fund Chesapeake Bay restoration.
The plans were part of a swift PowerPoint presentation that did not include many specifics, legislators said, but was more a broad outline of his approach.

O'Malley is not backing the Green Fund because he knows it is a loser. It failed to pass the General Assembly last year. Oh to be a fly on the wall to see Maggie Macintosh's, the bill's sponsor and chief O'Malley supporter in Baltimore City, reaction. Also, O'Malley does not want to burden his crony and faux environmentalist David Sutherland with any extra costs for developing his new tax payer funded real-estate acquisition on the Eastern Shore.