Recently I received my tax bill from Baltimore County and was surprised to see that my taxes went down – or did they? The total tax bill decreased by $675 because of lower assessments, yet my amount due increased by $161 over last year's amount. How could that be, I wondered, until I compared last year's bill with my current bill.

The Homestead Tax Credit, which is calculated on assessment, was $858 higher last year than this year and, coupled with the increased water distribution charge and the increased sewer service, my amount due increased.

Who are these people kidding?

With assessments down drastically in the county and the state, the homeowner should expect a tax break, right? After all, for all those years where our assessments kept rising dramatically, the taxes kept increasing proportionally. So shouldn't we expect the opposite to happen when the assessments go down?

They do in other states. West Virginia, for example, reduced its taxes as a result of the sluggish economy but did not offset that decrease with a reduced Homestead Tax Credit with an end result of higher taxes.

Some refer to Maryland as the "Great Tax and Spend State."

I now know why.

Richard Thompson, Catonsville