Posted on 04/06/2005 9:56:44 AM PDT by RebelBanker
Senate joins House, OKs bill that in effect applies only to Wal-Mart; Ehrlich might veto measure; Low spending on benefits would trigger penalties
Maryland would become the first state to tax large companies that failed to meet a mandatory level of employee health-care benefits under a bill approved yesterday by the state Senate.
The measure would affect one corporation, retailing behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sent representatives from its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters to argue against it at committee hearings this year. But other, smaller businesses worried that the measure could be altered to include them in the future.
-snip-
As a practical matter, four large Maryland employers would be covered by the bill: Wal-Mart; Giant Food Inc.; Hopkins; and defense contractor Northrop Grumman. But only Wal-Mart would be required to pay the tax because it does not reach the 8 percent threshold.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Yeah that is the ticket. Go after the Evil walmart! /s
I'm soooo relieved our state legislature has such important matters to deal with (dripping with sarcasm here)
Count on one Walmart closing in Md. End of problem.
Walmart may close stores and will certainly not open the planned distribution center on the Eastern Shore unless Bob Ehrlich vetos this crap and then makes the veto stick.
if walmart doesn't provide this as a benefit to their employees - the taxpayers will. I would rather walmart pay for it then see these workers on medicaid.
Considering EACH of the Sam Walton heirs are worth $18 billion, I think they can afford it.
Walmart can handle this a number of ways if Maryland becomes so hostile to business. They can reduce the number of employees by closing stores or going to more of a self serve warehouse model. They can specifically close stores in democrat leadership districts and they can simply not invest in new developments in the state. I hope the Maryland legislature thinks this through carefully.
They won't be paying - you will.
Socialism, whether by government decree, or government sponsorship, is still socialism.
Considering EACH of the Sam Walton heirs are worth $18 billion, I think they can afford it.
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Thats not a relevant question. Why doesn't Bill Gates pay for Wall Mart health workers since he can afford it most?
All your life, you have heard yourself denounced; not for your faults, but for your greatest virtues. You have been hated, not for your mistakes, but for your achievements. You have been scorned for all those qualities of character which are your highest pride. You have been called selfish for the courage of acting on your own judgment and bearing sole responsibility for your own life. You have been called arrogant for your independent mind. You have been called cruel for your unyielding integrity. You have been called anti-social for the vision that made you venture upon undiscovered roads. You have been called ruthless for the strength and self-discipline of your drive to your purpose. You have been called greedy for the magnificence of your power to create wealth. You, who've expended an inconceivable flow of energy, have been called a parasite. You, who've created abundance where there had been nothing but wastelands and helpless, starving men before you, have been called a robber. You, who've kept them all alive, have been called an exploiter. You, the purest and most moral man among them, have been sneered at as a 'vulgar materialist.' Have you stopped to ask them: by what right? — by what code? — by what standard?
Ayn Rand
its a hell of alot more efficient for us as consumers to pay a few cents more per item so that these workers can get a health plan as part of their compensation - then to have them vote for Dems who will give them a national health care plan, run inefficiently by the government and funded with taxpayer money.
our party needs to wake up regarding what is happening with health care in the US - private employers are dumping their plans everywhere you turn. those workers will increasingly be receptive to a government run plan - and Hillary 2008 will only be too happy to give them one in exchange for their vote.
Goodbye to businesses in the People's Republic of Maryland. I only hope the whole place goes under.
It's called fascism.
Exactly--Dem economics--In DC we have an enormous tax on cigarettes. A few miles away is Virginia , one of the lowest cigarette tax states, and the DC council still doesn't get why they are not bringing in as much as they hopes with this tax.LOL If they lowered their tax and made it a few pennies less than Virginia's--they'd clean up with DC, Virginia and Md buyers flocking here.
If they lowered their sales taxes--or declared no tax days--they'd pump up business revenues (and taxes) by eliminating the premium suburban stores have built in--lower property and labor cots.
Stupid to the max.
Oh my,,,a little class warfare here on FR?
Excuse it is their money and who are we to tell them how to spend it. Also if the employee does not like to work at Walmart they could go elsewhere..
It's not socialism, it's fascism.
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