Annapolis – Change Maryland called on the O’Malley Administration and the State Democratic Party to regroup and attempt to actually form a coherent, rational and policy-based response to the issues raised in the organization’s report on tax migration.
Change Maryland outlined a specific, modest step for them to do so – they should actually read the report.
The Maryland Democratic Party, following the O’Malley Administration the week before, leveled another petty partisan attack yesterday on Change Maryland and it’s chairman Larry Hogan, injecting class warfare talking points into a debate that has nothing to do with individual income levels.
“It’s obvious that the administration and state party still have not even read the report, ” said Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. If they had read it, they would know that the word ‘millionaires’ is not referenced anywhere. They don’t like what the report says, so they simply introduce a red herring. And rather than addressing the actual issue, they simply lash out with juvenile attacks on the messenger.”
Using IRS data, Change Maryland analyzed migration patterns at the state and county levels. Among the findings are that Maryland’s 31,000 net out-migration of residents from 2007 to 2010 was the highest in the region and seventh-highest nationally.
Business media outlet CNBC subsequently covered the Change Maryland tax report raising questions about the impact on high income households which may have confused administration and party officials accustomed to favorable press treatment.
“They are reacting to media coverage and not our report,” said Hogan. “Change Maryland analyzes publicly available IRS data which the administration should have been doing in the first place.”
A previous Change Maryland report issued in May compiled General Assembly information to quantify the cumulative tax and fee hikes imposed under the O’Malley Administration. The report is a line item accounting of 24 separate revenue increases from 2007 which remove an additional $2.4 billion from the Maryland economy annually. Most of these measures are regressive tax and fee increases.
“We are pulling the curtain back on this administration and simply giving the hard facts about what is really happening in Maryland, and they don’t like it,” said Hogan, who also noted that none of the facts in either of the two reports have been refuted.
Meanwhile, since O’Malley’s failed partisan attack on Change Maryland on July 10, the non-partisan organization has increased its membership by over 2200, reaching a total of over 16,000 Democrats, Republicans and Independents. The group is Maryland’s largest and fastest growing non-partisan, grassroots citizen organization.
