Tax Increases Would Be Legal, Attorneys Say - washingtonpost.com

Lawyers for both the Prince George's County Council and County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) have concluded that county leaders can raise the local income tax rate and the tax imposed on the recordation of home sales without asking voters for their approval at the ballot box.

Johnson has proposed increasing those taxes as part of a recommended $2.67 billion budget for the 2009 fiscal year, a 1.3 percent spending increase over this year. He says the revenue is needed to close a potential gap in the county's budget amid a deepening housing crisis that has caused county tax revenue to fall off....

Anti-tax activist Judy Robinson, who helped organize the successful 1996 effort to require tax increases to go to referendum, told the council she believed the legal advice is incorrect -- and promised a court challenge if it decides to increase the two taxes.

"I suppose the only way -- if you decide to go forward -- that we can decide who is right is to take it to the court," she said.