Mark Twain once defined politicians as our “only native criminal class.” That “class” is hard at work today in Mencken’s home state, as Governor Martin O’Malley has called a “special session” to attempt to raise taxes by some $2 billion.
His predecessor’s last budget called for a 12% increase in one year, but O’Malley criticized it as “too small and too minimal.” So he’s trying to tax just about everything, from car and real estate purchases to haircuts, health clubs and lawn services.
Here’s a good example of what Mark Twain was talking about: Yesterday it was revealed that part of the proposed tax-increase law stated that anyone who is given a gift certificate from a Maryland business and does not use it for 12 months is REQUIRED to pay the full value of the certificate to the state comptroller.
How could anyone dispute the old libertarian dictum that all taxation is theft, and that politicians are just another criminal gang?
10:41 am on November 8, 2007
