20071206 Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers

Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers

December 6^th, 2007

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I received a heads-up about this column by former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich – in an e-mail earlier in the day yesterday, Thursday, December 6^th, 2007. And I can readily agree with the e-mailer’s comments…

In case you missed it in today’s paper, pasted below is the link and copy of Governor Ehrlich’s editorial that provides a retrospective of the special session.

I think he is absolutely correct that the media has failed to report, analyze or evaluate the long-term ramifications of the steep increase to the tax burden on our citizens and businesses – and that the loss of competitiveness will “mean more Marylanders will do their Christmas shopping in Delaware, visit the race track in West Virginia, move their small businesses to Pennsylvania and choose to make Florida their legal residence.”

Below is a link to: Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers. (The highlighting belongs to me…)

Robert Ehrlich Jr., 2007-12-06

BALTIMORE –

T he just-concluded special session of the Maryland General Assembly has brought us the largest and most regressive tax increase in our history. With it, of course, was a dramatic increase in new spending, an important but generally ignored aspect of the session.

Maryland’s tax and spending habits, however, are overshadowed by something far more troubling: The heavy-handed and over-reaching manner the new administration and the legislative leaders used to accomplish their goal. Consider these four characteristics of the not-so special session of the General Assembly.

[…]

Deceitful: The alleged purpose of the special session was to fix a projected budget shortfall. Yet, before the session’s first gavel, the spending trough was opened. Brought back to Annapolis to address an alleged budget deficit, the legislature deepened the hole by approving more than $1.5 billion dollars in additional spending, while passing massive tax hikes behind closed doors and in the middle of the night. Public participation was stifled; debate was curtailed.

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Cynical: The new administration asked Marylanders to believe that 83 percent of taxpayers would pay less in state taxes despite their proposed tax increase of nearly $2 billion dollars, a notion since proved misleading at best.

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Depressing: After decades of building and fighting for a reputation as a business-friendly state, Maryland has now taken a giant step backward. Let’s face reality: A 20 percent increase in the state’s sales tax and an 18 percent increase in the state’s corporate tax are not, as some in Annapolis tried to suggest, positive competitive moves. Instead, they send a chilling message to the business community and present a significant marketing advantage to nearby states to recruit additional employers away from Maryland. Not surprisingly, recent studies show that confidence among small and mid-sized Maryland business owners is declining for the first time in years.

Destructive: The across-the-board tax increases mean more Marylanders will do their Christmas shopping in Delaware, visit the race track in West Virginia, move their small businesses to Pennsylvania and choose to make Florida their legal residence.

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There has been a real public outcry over the actions of our representatives in Annapolis. But life has taught us that this anger will be short-lived. Perhaps that will be true again.

Read the entire column here: Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers

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