Rascovar: Searching for a pot of gold
Everyone is for tax reform as long as it doesn’t hit our own bank accounts too hard. For politicians, there’s the extra desire to offend as few interest groups as possible.

Budget cuts, tax hikes
When budget decisions come, he said, the legislature will first cut and then raise revenues. To raise money, members will consider increasing and expanding the sales tax, closing loopholes in the corporate income tax structure, broadening the income tax and discussing slots.

Busch supports closing loophole
In addition to an increase to the corporate income tax, Busch said legislators may attempt a 1 cent hike to the state’s 5 cent sales tax, making it level with or close to that of neighboring states. “Once again, this about trying to stay not only in a competitive environment with our surrounding states, but also find a fair and equitable way to raise our revenues,” Busch said.

Johns Hopkins conference builds international business bonds
Representatives from 14 Israeli health and technology companies met with area entrepreneurs at JHU’s Cancer Research Building. About 150 people attended the all-day MarketReach America Conference, which focused on introducing the foreign firms to the Maryland and American markets.