Dundalk Eagle Highlight's Franchot's Focus on Fiscal Responsibility

Today's Dundalk Eagle highlighted Comptroller Peter Franchot's commitment to independent leadership and fiscal responsibility. The Dundalk Eagle:

Maryland comptroller Peter Franchot sounds like he could fit in well as a member of the 6th District legislative delegation.

He believes the state should cut spending before raising taxes. He thinks using one-time federal stimulus money to fund programs was shortsighted. And he doesn’t always toe the Democratic Party line.

“I love the Democratic Party, but I’m not a robot,” Franchot said during an interview Thursday at the Eagle office. “People like that I’m independent, willing to put my hand up once in a while.”

Franchot also talked about the need to hold the line on taxes and cut irresponsible spending. Franchot:

The immediate concern is not to burden people with more taxes, Franchot said.

“Individuals in Dundalk are tightening their belts, businesses are counting their pennies, but state government is not cutting back,” Franchot said.

“That’s foolish. We need to reform state spending before we talk about any tax increases. The public is under such financial stress, they can’t afford any more tax increases.”

Tax revenues collected from Baltimore County have fallen by almost 20 percent, Franchot said.

“The national economy is a mess, and having a dramatic impact on the economy in Maryland,” he said. “I see that reflected in the tax revenue we collect each month.

“The falloff is stunning. Not just that the state is getting less in taxes, but that families are losing so much wealth. It’s something that is very troubling. Working families are seeing their home values decline and their savings decline. That’s a lot scarier things for us than seeing a few millionaires lose money.”

The state needs to emulate those families, Franchot said: tighten belts, reduce spending and ride out the recession.

On the Board of Public Works, Franchot has repeatedly questioned unnecessary spending and stood up for the taxpayer. The Dundalk Eagle continues:

“You don’t want to start a program you can’t fund in the following years,” Stone said.

Doing that, Franchot said, will leave Maryland weaker when the economy eventually improves.

“When we come out of the recession, we’ll be a stronger state with good bones,” he said. “But we don’t want to come out of it with unsustainable spending plans. We need to get ahead of the curve, make sure our fiscal house is in order by reforming spending and making sure of our revenues.”

Franchot certainly has big ideas, but, he's also committed to being the best Comptroller he can be. Franchot:

For his part, Franchot is trying to increase state revenues in his job as Maryland’s tax collector by closing loopholes and cracking down on corporate tax cheats.

“We need to make sure every dollar owed the state under existing tax laws is collected before we think about new taxes,” he said.

To this end, according to Franchot, the comptroller’s office is:

* Aggressively pursuing nearing $500 million in taxes owed to Maryland by companies sheltering their income through Delaware Holding Company tax schemes;
* Successfully cracking down on a corporate tax loophole known as “captive” Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) deductions, which allowed companies to shelter significant amounts of taxable income;
* Intercepting taxes owed to Maryland by federal contractors, using the first-in-the-nation Federal Vendor Offset program (under which the U.S. government withholds money from contractors who owe taxes to Maryland). This is expected to bring in at least $20 million its first year;
* Supporting legislation to crack down on companies that misclassify their employees as independent contractors in an attempt to avoid paying their fair share of taxes and deny their workers the pay, benefits and protections they deserve. This will recoup an estimated $140 million if the bill is passed.
* Modernizing the state’s tax collection system, doubling the number of corporate auditors, and attracting and retaining the most qualified tax collectors.

“Ninety-five percent of people pay their taxes on time,” Franchot said. “Five percent cheat deliberately. We’ll leave the 95 percent alone, focus all of our auditing efforts on the 5 percent who thumb their noses at the state.”

Franchot is aggressively pursuing tax cheats and tax savings programs like efile. He's giving away millions in unclaimed property. He's taken to the job of Comptroller with vigor and will continue working on behalf of the people of Maryland.