Long: Addressing the Maryland budget deficit

Currently, in the Maryland Government there is a 761-million-dollar deficit. By 2026, the state will have a deficit of over $3 billion. This is unacceptable and must be addressed.

This is more concerning considering that Governor Hogan left Governor Moore with a surplus. I guess we should start calling him Governor Spend Moore.

We cannot afford to fully fund Kirwan. Education is important but there is a lot of waste that is being funded.

Overspending and not balancing our budgets is not sustainable and only hurts the people in the state.

Now this financial burden is being brought back to taxpayers and the plan by the Democrats is to address this problem by increasing taxes and fees on services. There are over 250 fee increases in the works. Remember what Martin O’Malley said when he ran against Bob Ehrlich in 2006, “A fee is a tax.”

A new bill proposed HB 1515 will create a sales tax on services such as lawyer fees, accountant fees, tax preparer fees, auto repair, other everyday services and even a death tax. I always thought after death we would not pay any more taxes and I was wrong. Included in HB1515 there is a death tax.

This is actually an old bill that was introduced back in 2020. That bill had so much opposition that the Democrats brought out their own bill and voted it down.

I fought against and killed this bill in 2020 and will do it again in 2024.

We need to stop these massive tax increases. Marylanders cannot afford this. We must stop wasteful spending and live within our means.