Whenever a government is controlled by a single party, it's only a matter of time before abuses of power become the order of the day. We saw it when a Republican Congress teamed with President Bush to effect record spending increases, pass monstrous entitlement benefits, and slap more pork onto bills than you could at most rib diners. And it's no different with Democrats, who are generally known as unapologetic tax-and-spenders.

So it was only a matter of time before first-term Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley would take advantage of his Democratic legislature and begin hiking taxes. Even I figured he'd wait a year before he started to trash the state's economy, but hard charger that he is, I guess he's decided to really get a jump on things. According to the Washington Post (which, incidentally, endorsed Republican incumbent Gov. Robert Ehrlich last year in an attempt to promote fiscal sanity in Maryland):

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) proposed increasing the state sales tax from 5 to 6 percent … and applying the levy to several services that are currently exempt, including health clubs, tanning salons and real estate property management.

Aides said that O'Malley's proposal would generate $804 million a year, making it the largest component of a plan that he is rolling out over several days to bridge a looming $1.7 billion budget shortfall and raise nearly $400 million more for transportation projects.

Interesting, isn't it, how so many politicians automatically decide to jump into our wallets for more of our money instead of actually cutting programs that aren't even funded? What would you or I have to do if we bought a car on credit but realized we couldn't afford to pay off the loan? Would it be legal for us to force our neighbors to pay for the car, or would we have to sell it to satisfy our fiscal obligation?

Even though Maryland faces a $1.7 billion budget shortfall, the state is still spending money it doesn't have. And here's the kicker: O'Malley and state Democrats claim there is a need to raise taxes, but they're the ones who have increased the budget by $1.3 billion and erased a cash surplus left by the outgoing Ehrlich. No worries though, Gov -- we taxpayers will just pretend you have no control over the budget and cover all your bills.

Despite hews and cries to the contrary, there's actually an easy way for Gov. O'Malley to relieve taxpayers of the $400 million burden of his transportation projects -- it's called privatizing the bridges and roads. When I moved to Maryland in 1996, Democrat Parris Glendening was governor, a post he held until 2003. During his tenure the state sales tax remained constant at 5 percent, a rate that was upheld during Ehrlich's administration from 2003 to 2007. So, congratulations, Mr. O'Malley. You'll be the first governor in at least ten years to raise the sales tax, even though Maryland is the richest state in the country and filled with residents who hardly need to rely on the state for services. (Would it be too cynical to assume the governor is expanding state programs simply because he believes residents can afford to pay for them?)

Even more troubling is O'Malley's plan to raise income taxes on families that make $200,000 per year or more, and on singles who make $150,000 or more. These exact figures weren't specified in the Post's report, but your intrepid freelancer caught the facts on the local TV news last week. During his press conference, O'Malley did his finest Julius Caesar/FDR impression by singing the praises of class warfare, where he essentially justified protection of the "poor" at the expense of the "rich."

It is clear that Gov. O'Malley expects the government to play Robin Hood. However, whereas Robin Hood is generally understood to be a fictional character who stole from the nobles of England to give money back to the serfs who were taxed excessively, Maryland's governor is instead perverting this age-old tale by advocating excessive, unjust taxation of those he identifies as having means and giving to those he deems without. Indeed, O'Malley intends to exercise executive privilege to confiscate private property because he apparently knows what's good for you and how best to spend your money. With no intent to reconcile his actions with the concept of morality, Martin O'Malley wants to reward the lazy by taking from the hardworking.

In no uncertain terms, these new, more punitive income taxes will harm Maryland's economy. When government promises to take your money simply because you have the audacity to work harder to make more of it, people will intentionally pull up short of hitting the magic income mark. Sure, existing millionaires will automatically be hit with the higher tax, but people who are independently wealthy also have good enough accountants to find loopholes in the laws, too.

It's the non-millionaires who will be screwed the hardest. Entrepreneurs young and old who contemplate opening a business will eventually decide it's not worth the hassle. Having to absorb the high costs of government regulations is bad enough; knowing the state targets you simultaneously just for being successful is even worse. Corporate investment will literally decrease overnight because of this government heavy-handedness. This means fewer companies -- companies that otherwise would have hired employees; employees that would have turned right around and spent their earnings elsewhere. In short, higher taxes stifle economic growth. They mean less production, less earning, and less commerce.

It seems naive to talk of eliminating taxes altogether when I'd give just about anything for my tax rates to simply stay the same instead of going up again, but I feel compelled. If Maryland really wanted to reduce its budget deficit and further stimulate the economy, it would immediately eliminate the income tax for corporations and individuals. Companies and consumers that were free to trade with one another absent government interference would generate untold revenue for the state in sales tax alone. 
Of course, this isn't necessarily an endorsement of a sales tax, either; I'd like to see that eliminated as well. But with the amount of business that would pour into Maryland as a result of this newfound freedom, the state could exist off a virtually imaginary consumption tax. Heck, if the government was limited to only its most essential duties, such as protecting the rights and property of its citizens (as opposed to trampling our liberties and stealing property, as it does currently), the state could sustain itself with a lottery alone. However, given that Maryland can't even agree on installing a few slot machines around the state to generate tax revenue, one has to believe it would faster confiscate money from all of us at the point of a gun rather than allow gamblers to relieve themselves of it voluntarily.

Yes, Maryland, the times will be getting worse before they get better. But hey, when you find yourself complaining as even the taxes on cigarettes and gasoline and fees to title and register vehicles go up and up and up, remember one thing: More than half of you voted for Martin O'Malley and his enablers in the state legislature. You really have no one to blame but yourselves.

Trevor Bothwell maintains the web log, “Who’s Your Nanny?” Contact him at bothwelltj@yahoo.com.