Nov 8, 2007 6:28 am US/Eastern
Tension Runs High At Special Session
ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) ―
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There was some tension at Wednesday's special session.
CBS
The names are the same but this time the governor and Senate leaders are taking tremendous heat for what opponents call slipping in a proposal to tax labor for landscaping.
Mary Bubala reports from lawn care businesses to talk radio, there's a new kind of rage sweeping across the landscape.
"I think it's horrible what's going on in Annapolis with this bill," said James McWilliams.
In an effort to eliminate a $1.7 billion budget shortfall, a state Senate subcommittee removed health clubs and realtors from the sales tax expansion list and replaced them with computer services and landscaping.
Landscapers like McWilliams and their customers are up in arms because they didn't get to make a case against new taxes.
"I would just encourage people to call their senators right away and oppose Senate Bill 2 and say this is completely unfair," he said.
Legislators are locked in battles to influence a tax that could affect thousands of small companies and tens of thousands of their employees.
The landscaping industry also tells
Eyewitness News it fears new taxes will force consumers to start doing business with illegal and unlicensed contractors.
It's hard for McWilliams to conceal his anger. His and other landscaping companies are openly asking for customers to use their political clout before they're forced to protect their pocketbooks.
"I think it's gonna make those people want to go and hire people that are unlicensed, don't have the insurance, aren't properly trained, and it's gonna create a kind of underground economy, which I think is gonna be really bad," he said.
The next opportunity for opponents to speak up will come when the bill is passed from the Senate to the House. The question now is, in this special session with time being short, how much timey they will get to make their case.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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