More Would Share Pain Of Maryland Tax Increase

Senate panel reworks governor’s plan

ANNAPOLIS — A Senate committee agreed Thursday to rework Gov. Martin O'Malley’s proposed budget, installing an alternative set of tax hikes and a more gradual shift in teacher-pension costs while avoiding any additional spending cuts.

The spending plan by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee would rely on an across-the-board income-tax increase rather than the Democratic governor’s targeted hikes on the top 20 percent of earners to help balance the budget and trim more than half of the state’s $1.1-billion structural deficit.

Committee members also rejected Mr. O'Malley’s plan to immediately push $239 million in pension costs onto counties, instead phasing in a shift over four years. They also are requiring more education funding from counties but allowing them to foot the bill by raising local income-tax rates above their current caps.

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