The Other McCain

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Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Is a Stupid, Dishonest and Incompetent Swine

Posted on | January 25, 2012 | 37 Comments

Just printed my boarding pass for Jacksonville, where I’m sure CNN’s lovely and charming Jennifer Scoggins will approve my media credential request for Thursday’s super-awesome Florida Republican debate. (There was an e-mail mix-up earlier, but I’m sure we’ve got that straightened out, right?) Because of scheduling contingencies, I booked my flight to Florida one-way and, given the crooked thieving shenanigans of state government here in Maryland, I may never come back:

One of Gov. O’Malley’s tax proposals this year is to extend the sales tax to digital products. That means digital media you download: ebooks, apps, music, newspapers, videos, ringtones, audio greeting cards and more could become subject to the state’s sales tax of 6 percent. So that 99 cents iTunes song you buy would cost around $1.05.

My friend Jeff Quinton at QuintonReport.com alerted me to this outrage and got an Instalanche out of it. And this could be the last straw for me.

I’ve lived in Maryland more than 14 years, ever since I moved up here to work at The Washington Times in November 1997. My friends have often asked, “Why Maryland? Their taxes are so high. You should move to Virginia.” And there was always a reason, or at least a plausible excuse.

For years, the commute to the Times office on New York Avenue, and the availability of a more direct bus/rail connection than could be found in Virginia, was the best argument to stay in Maryland. Then our daughter enrolled at Highland View Academy here in Hagerstown, and we moved into faculty housing on campus, where my wife subsequently became the food service director or, as she prefers to call herself, The Cafeteria Lady.

Frankly, however, the best argument for staying in Maryland now is inertia. We’ve lived in this house for seven years, and the mere thought of having to pack everything into a moving truck — my office library alone would take days to pack — is enough to give me a headache.

Nevertheless, O’Malley’s lamebrain Internet tax might make me do it. Because in all likelihood, as we witnessed in California last year, if the state tries to tax online sales, Amazon will pull out, and I need that Amazon money.

This past year, I finally figured out how to promote Amazon sales the way they should be promoted, and my commissions on associates sales during the Christmas holiday season exceeded $1,000 a month for the first time. Maybe some people don’t think $1,000 a month is a big deal, but for an independent blogger like me, that was a spectacular financial windfall. And if that corrupt idiot swindler O’Malley causes me to lose that income, I’m outta here.

Gonesville. Arrivaderci. Hasta la vista.

We’ve got family and friends in Florida, where there’s no state income tax and, during the past few weeks on the campaign trail, I’ve set up the National Affairs Desk in hotels, airport lounges and McDonald’s from Cedar Rapids to Manchester to Charleston. So I’ve proven I can work from anywhere there’s a WiFi connection.

Proximity to D.C. is nice, of course, but there’s no reason why I couldn’t start racking up some frequent flier miles on the Orlando-to-Washington route, if there was anything I needed to cover in The Nation’s Capitol.

Why not move to Florida? Or Georgia, Alabama, Ohio — it doesn’t really matter, does it? Just find someplace cheap to live, tell my wife to quit her job, load up the truck and go. An excellent idea, and then the vicious bastards who are flushing Maryland down the toilet won’t see another dime of my tax money.

When you people hit the tip jar, I have to pay Maryland taxes on that income. Do we really want that money going  to prop up O’Malley and his gang of thieves in Annapolis? I think not.

The Florida real estate market is at rock bottom — thank you, President Obama! — and it’s a swing state, so if I move down there sometime in the next few months, my wife and I (and our 19-year-old twin sons) could all register to vote in the November election. That’s four extra GOP voters in a crucial state where, as we saw in 2000, every vote counts.

Hell, yeah.

Thank you, Governor O’Malley, for this excellent idea.

Update (Smitty): linked at Inside Charm City

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Category: Amazon, Maryland, Quinton Report, Taxes

Comments

  • Compuwise

    I like both states and the idea of you sticking it to the man but wouldn’t the expense of moving and just one flight out weigh years of taxes on itunes and whatnot?

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Godspeed on the immediate trip to Florida.

    As for the tax: this is the start of a trend that will soon be seen in many states.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, in the short term, there would be the one-time re-location expense. But we’d make that up in a year or two of tax-free income, and if we can find someplace cheap to rent — it’s not like we need beachfront property — we might save enough on housing to earn back the relocation costs in a matter of months.

    Also: Both of my teenage twins have Red Cross lifeguard certification, and there’s lots of that kind of opportunity in Florida.

    I’m not saying we WILL move to Florida, I’m just saying that the O’Malley regime has given us an excellent reason to seriously consider it and, like I said, we’ve got family and friends in the vicinity of Orlando who might be able to help us get relocated.

  • rain of lead

    hey Stacy
    Tennessee does not have and income tax either
    and BBQ
    and country music…….
    just sayin

  • Dell Hill

    Whoa, Bucko! Not so fast.  Vanuatu is on line one for you.  Your beach house is almost ready.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Have a safe flight!

    The argument for taxing online sales is typical liberal crap:  it isn’t “fair” that brick-and-mortar local retailers have to charge the tax when online retailers do not.  Baloney.

    Online retailers get no services from the state.  No police, fire, or rescue protection.  They do not add to wear and tear on roads and bridges.  Why should they pay for them?

    If the states wish to “level the playing field” (a common phrase the government uses when placing its thumb on the scale), all they have to do is repeal their own sales taxes.

  • Danby

    I’m pretty sure it’s not the extra taxes to be paid, its the loss of income when Amazon pulls out.  At $1000/month, it doesn’t take long to make a case for moving.

    Every state that tries this sees their tax revenues go down.  How many tries does it take before Democrat-controlled states figure out it’s a bad idea? Or is the emotional rush they get from raising taxes overwhelming their ability to count?

  • Ft. Ritchie dude

    one word stacy texas dont worry the other rick has no axe to gring withya

  • http://twitter.com/sdo1 Steve in TN

    Yeah, but our TN pols have all but rammed through that internet sales tax…

  • http://twitter.com/CWJonesIII Chip Jones

    Florida is a “Right to Work” state, too…..justsayin.

  • Paul Zummo

    On the one hand, Maryland is a socialist republic.  I somehow manage to pay more in taxes to the state – and by a good margin – than the feds.  My neighborhood list-serve is a perfect encapsulation of the smarmy self-righteousness of the left.

    On the other hand, northern Virginia sucks donkey balls.  

    So for now I’m gonna rough it out in Maryland, but the day may come where I’m just pushed over the edge and out.

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  • Anonymous

    No, it’s a semi-fascist oligarchy.  One party, crooked elections in gerrymandered districts.  

    They day after I retire, I’m off for a free state.

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

    I thought Florida was bad for sales taxes. You have a state sales tax, and other country and city sales taxes. I think it some areas it approaches the neighborhood of 18%. That’s just what I’ve heard from people who’ve been there on vacation, I don’t really know.

  • http://www.granitegrok.com Mike Rogers

    Don’t forget NH, and relatively cheap US Air flights to DCA. Also Southwest connects to a lot of places.
    No income ax, no sales tax, but the property taxes are a bit higher,

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    You forget the Progressive learning curve:

    _______________________

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    Snow.  And deer.  And skinny little roads.

  • http://www.granitegrok.com Mike Rogers

    Hah! Are you saying that deer, and snow, and Kia cars don’t mix?

  • http://www.granitegrok.com Mike Rogers

    Hah! Are you saying that deer, and snow, and Kia cars don’t mix?

  • http://twitter.com/Weirddave0 Dave

     As a fellow resident of the Soviet Republic of Marylandistan, I feel your pain Stacy. But what am I to do? I’m in insurance, I just did the numbers for last year: Obamacare cost me personally $42K last year. 42 grand! John Stewart may make that in a day, but to me that’s real money. Where do I go to escape that?

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  • Anonymous

    If he’s moving for purposes of work, the cost of the move is deductible from his income taxes.

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    Of course they do.  Once.

  • http://zillablog.marezilla.com Zilla of the Resistance

    I live in the horrible state of New York. Every time husband bitches about how expensive and crappy it is here, I bring up New Hampshire. I have been working on him for over a dozen years, slowly wearing him down.  I like North Conway. How much does a pack of cigarettes go for these days in NH? It is between ten and twelve dollars here, and fifteen dollars or more in NYC.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    The property taxes are high, but when you do the calculations of that versus what you pay in other states for their various taxes, it still makes NH a bargain.

    The wife and I can’t wait to move there in a few years.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    They know how to plow the roads up in NH.

    Ten inches fall overnight and the roads are down to pavement by mid-morning at the latest.

  • http://twitter.com/ajpwriter Andrew Patrick

    I also live in the People’s Republic of Prince-Balti-Gomery, and inertia is likewise keeping me. Fact is, I basically grew up here, with the occasional extended visit to Ohio and California (Dad was in the Coast Guard). Our roots are here. I don’t want to move again. I moved too many times as a kid. I moved two years ago and am just now getting my house the way I want it. 

    But I’m starting to wonder if I would make good being a Pennsylvania tax refugee. Pennsylvania real estate taxes suck, but their state income tax is a pittance compared to Maryland. I live in the northern part of the state, so PA would be a better move than Virginia. Never could abide Virginia.

  • Anonymous

    No, the Democrats just plan to take it national (and international; do you think they wouldn’t give the UN both police and taxing powers if they could get away with it?).

  • Anonymous

    Wombat, I actually went through that in 2006 when I moved from AL to TX. Since I moved for personal reasons (my NYC-born and raised non-driving wife wanted to move to a city with decent mass transit), not for work or work-related reasons, it wasn’t deductible.

    Stacey, especially since he works for himself, will have a tough time making the case his job requires it. I expect this to become more common since an increasing number of jobs can be done  “wherever there’s WiFi.”

  • http://www.granitegrok.com Mike Rogers

    $6-$7 per pack, $56-$65 per carton.

    Where you live depends on how much you travel out of state, and what services you require.
    Top speed internet isn’t available everywhere, and living within an hour of Manchester Airport may be important to you.

    FSP would be glad to have you here.

  • http://www.granitegrok.com Mike Rogers

    And, if you’re “on fire”, like Zilla, the cigarettes are cheaper, too.

  • http://2012.ak4mc.us/ McGehee

    Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Is a Stupid, Dishonest and Incompetent Swine

    Just imagine what you’d say if you wanted to insult him.

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  • BS

    That comment is a lie and full of shit…Where do you work, at Walmart?  You guys…always complaining about taxes.  Bunch of babies.  6 cents, really?  Thats going to ruin your world?  True socialism does not exist in this country yet you guys think it will happen.  They system here is very flawed.  If the fed and states would just have the balls to raise taxes on everyone we wouldnt have to go through this.  All of you, we pay no taxes…the least out of all 1st world countries, yet you still complain.  Whatever, typical idiots.  Just quit working and you wont get taxed.  Enjoy your life then.

  • Anonymous

    I pay 7% sales tax:  6% state.  1% county.  This is in Pasco north of Tampa.  Stay out of the tourist areas and you’ll do fine in FL.

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