Several of the Gormogons are Maryland natives (technically GorT was a transplant after a year…at least in this time reality) and GorT maintains his primary residence in the People’s Republic of Maryland.  However, the recent course of events in Maryland over the last several years is really making a move to another state attractive.  The largest anchor is our kids’ schools (private & parochial).  While GorT is no multi-millionaire, anyone who doesn’t believe that the liberal policies, specifically around ultra-progressive tax systems, is causing citizens to relocate is clearly living under a rock in some backwoods stream.

Much has been made locally about what many are calling the “Maryland Rain Tax”.  Let me walk through it so there is no confusion:

In 2010, Obama’s EPA ordered Maryland to reduce stormwater runoff to address nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the Chesapeake Bay.  The budget item to do so is pegged at $14.8 billion through 2025 (GorT is still trying to research whether that is a number given to Maryland from the EPA or if Maryland officials determined that number) but GorT remains skeptical at that figure as the state law behind it includes the following uses of these funds:

• Build and maintain stream and wetland restoration projects.
• Monitoring, inspection, enforcement, review of stormwater management plans and permit applications and mapping of impervious surfaces.
• It can also be spent on “public education and outreach” and on “grants to nonprofit organizations”

I would argue that not all of those efforts go directly towards the EPA mandate of reducing nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the bay.   Furthermore, many liberals will complain that this is just cage rattling by those on the right and the EPA mandated it so Maryland just has to pony up.  Not so.  Virginia was also hit by the mandate as it has a portion of the bay coastline.  The commonwealth fought the EPA storm water mandate arguing that the mandate oversteps the authority of the EPA under the Clean Water Act and a federal judge agreed ruling that storm water runoff is not a pollutant and therefore the EPA is not authorized to regulate it.  Maryland has not taken any action along those lines.

The state exempted government facilities from the tax but included non-profits and religious organizations.  Individuals will bear the brunt of this tax (remember, liberals think that companies have pools of money sitting around ready to pay to the government): (1)  either as direct homeowners for the size of their house, driveway and patios or as renters through the rental rate as owners will pass it along, (2) as consumers in that commercial real estate owners will pass on the tax to their tenants who will pass it on in prices to the buyer, and (3) as members of non-profits, churches, etc. in that their donations will be used to contribute towards the organization’s tax bill.

Readers will know that GorT is no tree-hugging hippie (plus, ‘Puter and the Czar scared them all off the greater Castle grounds over the course of walking home from the Leapin’ Peacock a few times) but I own a rain barrel that collects from one of our downspouts from what I would estimate to be about a quarter of our roof surface area*.  This water is then used to water various plants in our yard when we go through periods of low rainfall.  Shouldn’t I be able to reduce my tax as this water will not be storm water runoff?  I seriously doubt that the Central Committee here in Montgomery County nor the PRoM leadership in Annapolis will accept that premise.

Bag tax, gasoline tax hikes, storm water runoff taxes – these are all what we can look forward to when Martin O’Malley considers a run at the presidency.

* If there is any doubt that GorT is busy calculating the non-permeable surface areas within his property using multiple methods to include satellite imagery and analysis on a 6,000 node cloud cluster, you need to reconsider how well you’ve been reading this site and maybe hire a tutor.  Heck, he did it for the analysis of the blog you don’t think he’d do it to fight taxes?

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.