O'MALLEY TAX HIKE AN "UNNECESSARY" RIP-OFF

A number of years ago, during the Glendening Administration, Forbes Magazine characterized Maryland as a "tax hell." At the time, Governor Glendening was gleefully spending sixty cents for every forty cents the state received in revenue income. Obviously, Maryland was also a "spending hell."

Recently, a Wall Street Journal editorial proclaimed that Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley was on a tax increase a day statewide tour. The reputable national newspaper expressed sympathy for Maryland's taxpayers. After the O'Malley tour was completed, the final wreckage included ten new tax hikes, costing a minimum of 2.5 billion dollars the first year.

The tragic reality about this assault on a Marylander's family budget is the fact that new taxes are "unnecessary." The real solution is to simply reduce new spending. By increasing spending by only 2% would eliminate about 1 billion dollars from the present deficit. The Governor's proposals include 2 billion in new spending which is a 9% increase. Furthermore, a sensible slots plan with advanced mandated payment for licensing fees would wipe out the remainder of the deficit.

Frankly, the "O'Malley tax hike" will cost 25 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The deficit during that time period is projected to be only 7 billion. Taxpayers should ask, "Why do we need an extra 18 billion out of our pockets?" The answer is obvious. Maryland politicians have always been inflicted by a communicable disease known as "spending mania." Democrat leadership in Annapolis has increased spending by 15 billion dollars in the last 10 years. In the last session of the General Assembly, the Democrat leadership cut only 200 million from the O'Malley budget. The Governor balanced the budget by raiding the emergency rainy day fund and by withdrawing 1.2 billion dollars.

Governor O'Malley has used shameful "class warfare" rhetoric falsely claiming only the rich will bear the burden of his massive tax hike. The increased income tax for the so-called rich (people earning more than $150,000) will guarantee only 170 million dollars in new funds. The other 1.5 billion dollars in tax revenue that O'Malley claims he needs will come from the wallets of working people, middle class families, and seniors. The super sales tax, vehicle title tax, permanent gas tax, and other regressive increases will penalize taxpayers at about $585 per household.

The two most "evil" tax hikes proposed by the governor are the super sales tax and the permanent gas tax increase. A 20% increase in the sales tax and expansion into the service industry will rob the Maryland private economy of more than a billion dollars. Clearly, two-thirds of our state economic engine is consumer spending. The super sales tax hike is a tax on consumer spending that will reduce economic growth and kill jobs. The reputable financial services company Ernst & Young have confirmed that O'Malley's proposals will cause a loss of jobs in Maryland.

At a time when record gas prices are strangling our citizens' cost of living spending abilities, the new O'Malley gas tax is very dangerous. This tax hike is permanent and will increase automatically every year. The governor and the politicians in Annapolis will not even be required to vote on the annual increases. The gas tax creates a spending "honeypot," financed on the backs of families and seniors, while negatively impacting all segments of our state's economy.

The O'Malley tax hikes create a minimum of ten new tax increases and is the largest in the history of our state. Maryland will jump from the third highest income tax in America to number one. Our most productive citizens, retirees, and small business owners will continue to vote with their feet and flee Maryland. Montgomery County, America's richest county, has lost 52,000 of its citizens in the past 5 years because of oppressive tax policies. Three years ago, New Jersey politicians passed a 2 billion dollar tax hike which caused an economic slowdown and dramatically decreased revenues resulting in a new 4 billion dollar deficit. The power to tax is the power to destroy, not only individuals' financial security, but an entire state's economy.

Ten years ago, our neighboring state Virginia's democrat governor, Douglas Wilder, eliminated a record 2 billion dollar deficit without raising taxes. Governor Pawlenty of Minnesota vetoed 5 billion dollars in new taxes created by the state legislature and still managed to balance the budget. The O'Malley tax hike, tragically unnecessary, is a financial nuclear strike against the people and economy of our great state.