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VOL. 15, NO. 3

Reject slots, raise taxes for the common good

They're he-e-e-ere.

Members of Marylands General Assembly are once again bustling, caucusing and strategizing with and against one another and the governor, for hard-fought votes on legislation and funding. Im reminded of the little girl in the 1982 horror film Poltergeist, who upon hearing spirit voices behind the static on her familys television screen, tried to warn her parents that the persistent ghosts they had just exorcised from their home had returned.

I refer here not to all lawmakers, but to those who, along with Gov. Robert Ehrlich, insist that legalized slot machine gambling is the surefire remedy to the states $780 million budget deficit and its financial obligation to improve and equalize the quality of education across the state.

Last year the governors ill-conceived proposal for slots at horseracing tracks passed in the Senate but was thwarted in the House of Delegates, thanks to Speaker Michael Buschs leadership and legions of opponents that included many United Methodists.

Unfortunately, it appears now that much of the House opposition was more about financial and political gain than moral principle. Busch and his colleagues now recommend multiple slots locations throughout the state as long as the lions share of the profits dont go to the racetracks.

Ehrlich, who said last year he would not resubmit a slots proposal this year, changed his mind and placed his own expanded proposal on the table last week. So now a handful of gambling proposals await negotiation, all floating about the Assembly halls like restless phantoms in need of proper burials.

Writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1913) defined a ghost as the outward and visible sign of an inward fear. He also defined politics as a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The contest of public affairs for private advantage.

We have much to fear from misgbwc_superusered attempts to expand gambling in Maryland and equally from Ehrlichs threats to slash critical funding to education, health services and other needs among poor and working-class citizens if slots are not approved. Such cruel threats are tantamount to public extortion.

Conversely, it appears that we have little to fear from the only viable alternative to our economic woes: tax increases. There: I said the unmentionable. Ehrlich is dead-set against it, along with some stubborn legislators and many respondents to opinion polls. Speaker Busch has the courage to suggest that a tax increase is necessary, but even he has tread lightly on this subject and stumbled into a compromise of principles in favor of the notion of state-run gambling venues.

Yes, a one-cent sales tax increase will hurt a bit, and a proposed tax increase on the highest incomes may sting wealthy citizens and businesses. But Maryland has the highest median income in the nation and a lower sales tax than surrounding states.

Moreover, impact reports warn of many dire human and social consequences born of runaway gambling addiction if slots are approved. Yet, Ive seen no reports that credibly forecast any such devastation from tax increases.

So if we must choose our poison, why not choose that which hurts us all moderately for the common good, rather than a poison that will surely inflict more severe damage upon vulnerable citizens and families who can least afford it? We are, after all, not separate but members of the same body politic, responsible for one another in each of our parts. As the apostle Paul wrote, If one member suffers, all suffer together. (1 Corinthians 12:26 )

Indeed, if we peel back the veneer of delusional promises including millions of dollars in imminent revenue and thousands of jobs the destructive impact of slot machine gambling, even if initially hidden from public view, will be felt by everyone. It is foolish and dangerous to argue, as some do, that such consequences are negligible, tolerable, unavoidable or worth the imagined economic benefits.

One economist recently told the House Ways and Means Committee that the state could expect to lose $3 in overall costs for each $1 it gains from slot machines. He and others describe slots as the most addictive and most problematic form of gambling, far more than the lottery or horseracing.

Some say we have no choice, that slots are a political and fiscal necessity. But they are wrong. We always have a choice between right and wrong: a moral, humane choice for sanity and principle that transcends political and economic challenges.

The legendary Trojans, ignoring warnings from their seer Cassandra, welcomed inside their walls the enormous, hollow gift-horse that contained Greek soldiers and thus, their impending doom.

I pray that our leaders will heed our warnings and prevent slots from invading communities through horseracing tracks and other venues where they will destroy the lives and fortunes of vulnerable families. Instead, I pray that our leaders will prudently consider tax increases as a remedy to the states deficit and its education needs for the benefit of the common good.