Bring us your poor, your tired, your illegal (but mostly) your tax dollars and populations

Maryland is considering tuition breaks for illegal alien students. You have got to suspect that it is to preserve union support for Democrats because the state surely can't afford to stiff their taxpayers just to import voters, can they?

Sunshine Review has examined the Maryland State Budget. The state is expected to have a $2.4 billion budget gap for FY2011. Some other highlights:

• Maryland has a total state debt of $40,615,471,801 when calculated by adding the total of outstanding debt, pension and OPEB UAAL’s [benefits other than pensions], unemployment trust funds and the 2010 budget gap as of July 2010.
• For FY 2012, the state will face a roughly $1.6 billion gap between expected revenues and planned spending.
• Under the budget for FY2011, the state remains responsible for nearly $1 billion in teacher pension costs after a Senate proposal to shift the costs to county governments failed. The budget states that the issue will be examined by a "super blue ribbon" commission that will address state employee retirement, Medicare prescription benefits and teacher pensions. 

BOTTOM LINE - YOUR TAX DOLLARS: From the Maryland Comptroller site: Nonresidents are subject to a special nonresident tax rate of 1.25 percent, in addition to the state income tax rate.

BOTTOM LINE - BODY COUNT: 2010 Census results: Maryland population grew 9 percent.

The governor has promised to sign "the Dream Act.:

Support for this year's bill, sponsored by state Sen. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Dist. 47) of Cheverly, is centered on Montgomery and Prince George's counties, where the Hispanic population has grown dramatically in the past decade, according to information from the U.S. Census Bureau. About 17 percent of Montgomery County's population is now of Hispanic descent, as is about 14.9 percent of the Prince George's population, according to the survey.