Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. form letter to constituent, February 7, 1992

Robert L. Ehrlich. Jr. TENTH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT BALTIMORE COUNTY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE GOVERNOR'S COUNCIL ON CHILD ABUSE MARYLAND JUVENILE JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL House of Delegates Annapolis . Maryland 21401-1991 February 7, 1992 Dear Constituent: Legislative Address: (JANUARY - APRIL) ANNAPOLIS. MARYLAND 21401-1991 LEGISLATIVE PHONE: 841-3350 Home Address: 5 ELPHIN COURT. «102 TIMONIUM. MARYLAND 21093 Thank you for your letter, post card, or phone call con¬ cerning the state budget crisis, education funding, and the Governor's call for increased taxes. As you know, the Governor, House Leadership, Senate Leader¬ ship, House Republican Party, as well as various other groups, have proposed their own budgets for fiscal year 1993. Accord¬ ingly, I will correspond with you again later in Session in order to provide you with responsive information with regard to the fate of these proposals and my corresponding votes/views, including the fate of various cost-saving recommendations offered by the House Republican Caucus. I do, however, want you to know of the guidelines I will follow in my voting: (1) The recession has cut deeply into the profit margins of many small businesses in Maryland. Accordingly, any increase in business taxes is unwarranted and unwise; (2) Money Magazine has rated Maryland the third worst "tax hell" in the United States (up from fourth in 90) ; (3) Local governments in general, and Baltimore County in particular, will not be able to survive another significant cut in state aid without cutting into essential local services; (4) User fees generally make good economic sense; (5) There are ways to raise additional revenue without ; tax increases (as referenced above, the Republican Caucus has submitted a list of excellent recommendations to the Governor in this regard) ; (6) Real, additional "fat" in state government can be cut through consolidation of overlapping functions and agencies within the executive branch; (7) Privitization is an idea whose time has come; (8) Legislative mandates (both state and federal) are driving much of otr budget deficit;