Examiner

Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith is urging Maryland voters to adopt a slots referendum next week, saying the measure will allow local governments to “indirectly” reduce taxes.

Smith, who heads the Maryland Association of Counties, said citizens have no choice but to approve a measure that will allow 15,000 slots terminals at five venues if they want current tax rates to at least remain the same. Cuts at the state level have already slashed $17 million in local aid, he said, including funds for jails, community colleges and local health departments.

“If slots don’t happen, we will have to find another source of funds to support education,” Smith said. “So, indirectly, slots would reduce taxes.”

If approved at the polls Nov. 4, the constitutional amendment would funnel about $660 million in slots revenues to a public education funding mandate.

This doesn’t sound like a tax “cut” unless you define a cut the way many politicians on the left side of the aisle define it – as a reduction in a planned tax or expenditure. It sounds more like Smith is making a threat – vote for slots or we will raise your taxes.