Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will launch his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Saturday in Baltimore. During the forthcoming campaign, it will be impossible for O'Malley to escape his past as a fiscal liberal who made higher taxes rain over Maryland.
Maryland was hit by 40 tax hikes costing $9.5 billion during O'Malley's eight years in office, from 2007-14. Tax-weary Marylanders made Republican Larry Hogan governor in 2014, bucking O'Malley's lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, who was the Democratic candidate. Less-patient Marylanders voted with their feet and simply fled the state: Almost 72,000 people left Maryland from mid-2007 to mid-2014, according to Census Bureau data.
O'Malley didn't hit just the rich with his tax hikes; everyone from Ocean City to Cumberland felt the pain. The state sales tax rose to 6 percent and was applied to an increasing number of items. On the campaign trail, O'Malley may come to regret his infamous "rain tax," which imposed a fee on property owners due to storm water management efforts. Birth and death certificate fees doubled, taking more money from Marylanders on both ends of their life.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
I have not heard him once tout the rain tax or flush tax as one of his accomplishments toward a cleaner environment on his presidential campaign.
ReplyDeleteWow! Just imagine what he could do at a national level.
ReplyDelete9:20 - because he knows he would be tormented by it at the national level!
ReplyDeleteI am soooo glad he is no longer part of the Maryland political scene!