Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. form letter to constituent, January 15, 1992

January 15, 1992 Dear Constituent: 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. It is too early in Session to provide you with specifics of the tax and spending proposals submitted by the Governor, Legislative Leadership, and House Republican Party. Accordingly, I will correspond with you again later in Session in order to provide you with responsive information with regard to the fate of individual proposals, my corresponding votes/views, and the fate of various cost-saving recommendations offered by the 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 (the Republican Caucus is submitting 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 our budget deficit;