Spending
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Claw back the Improperly Issued Income Tax Offset Credits (ITOC)
Read more: Claw back the Improperly Issued Income Tax Offset Credits (ITOC)The Montgomery County Council invited submissions of testimony related to the FY24 Budget on April 13, 2023. One resident, Louis Wilen, submitted testimony and supporting documents that make a strong case for the County to recover over $100 million in improperly issued Income Tax Offset Credits (ITOC). Mr. Wilen is no stranger to identifying fiscal…
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Who Got the Money?
Read more: Who Got the Money?In an effort to have budget and spending transparency, the County publishes the spendingMontgomery data dashboard that compiles revenue and spending information. You can dive into the data, and even download the data for your own analysis. We jumped into the 2023 Expenditure Ledger and downloaded the data so we could run a more comprehensive…
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Montgomery County Spent Millions of “American Rescue Plan Act” Funds on Things That Had Nothing to Do with Covid Mitigation or “Resilience”
Read more: Montgomery County Spent Millions of “American Rescue Plan Act” Funds on Things That Had Nothing to Do with Covid Mitigation or “Resilience”A review of information at both Treasury.gov and MarylandTaxes.gov reveals that Montgomery County politicians spent millions of future taxpayer dollars allocated to it via the so-called ‘American Rescue Plan Act’ (ARPA) on things that had nothing to do with Covid-19 disease mitigation or ‘resilience’. The final portion of this funding (via the Federal Government’s largesse…
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Renters Should Pay More (Immediately) in Taxes Each Fiscal Year to Contribute to MoCo’s Budget and Spending
Read more: Renters Should Pay More (Immediately) in Taxes Each Fiscal Year to Contribute to MoCo’s Budget and SpendingSeveral years ago, even prior to being a homeowner in Montgomery County, Maryland, I came across this article by the fantastic personal finance blogger ‘Financial Samurai’. I majored in economics from the University of Maryland, so I always had an interest in this kind of thing. But even more so then basic economics, personal finance,…
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As Montgomery County Faces Recession Pressures and Uncertainty, Marc Elrich Departs for Taiwan with Member of County Council
Read more: As Montgomery County Faces Recession Pressures and Uncertainty, Marc Elrich Departs for Taiwan with Member of County CouncilTen days after revealing his “recommended” fiscal year 2024 budget for Montgomery County, Maryland, that includes big tax hikes via property tax rates, County Executive Marc Elrich is departing for business and “international smart city” representation in Taiwan. Does it reflect someone concerned about County finances? On March 15, 2023, CE Marc Elrich put out a…
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Who is Pillaging the Taxpayers Faster: MoCo vs Fairfax Edition
Read more: Who is Pillaging the Taxpayers Faster: MoCo vs Fairfax EditionLocal ABC7 News Affiliate WJLA reporter Nick Minock did some actual investigative journalism yesterday and revealed some pretty stunning facts about the state of our neighbor to the south, Fairfax County, Virginia, and their own local politician’s perks and taxpayer pillaging. Let’s see how Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors stack up to Montgomery County’s Councilmembers…
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Underlying Fundamentals Have Changed. We Must Adjust Our Course.
Read more: Underlying Fundamentals Have Changed. We Must Adjust Our Course.Some interesting charts that should be considered and debated as Montgomery County pushes for approval of a larger budget, with more spending (and taxing). Labor Force This data is published monthly and is a representation of all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older classified as either employed or unemployed. The civilian…
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Investigating the Taxpayer Support of CM Evan Glass’s Former Employer, Gandhi Brigade Youth Medi
Read more: Investigating the Taxpayer Support of CM Evan Glass’s Former Employer, Gandhi Brigade Youth MediMontgomery County Councilmember (and now Council President) Evan Glass’s former employer, a 501c3 charity called Gandhi Brigade Youth Media or GBYM, has raked in State of Maryland and Montgomery County grants, records show. Gandhi Brigade Youth Media states that its mission is to: create communities where young people build the confidence and media skills to express…
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CASAgomery County, MD
Read more: CASAgomery County, MDA prominent activist organization across Montgomery County and the state of Maryland is CASA de Maryland. It self-advertises itself as: the foremost immigrant organization in the mid-Atlantic region and a national leader in supporting immigrant families and ensuring that all individuals have the core supports necessary for full participation in society. Now a national immigrant…
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Taxpayers Investments in Biotech offer Great Opportunity
Read more: Taxpayers Investments in Biotech offer Great OpportunityThe following is a counterpoint to the article entitled, Are Taxpayer Investments in Biotech Companies Too Risky?, published on March 6 2023. Life Science investing is risky. We should scrutinize the wisdom of any public investment into private ventures. And, our elected leaders, if they don’t have experience in this or other areas,…