Issue Position: The Economy and Maryland State Tax Policy

Issue Position

As soon as Governor O'Malley took the oath of office in 2007, he and the Democrat majority-led General Assembly immediately passed an income tax package that was the largest increase of taxes in the state's long history. Taxes on the wealthy increased from 4.75 % to 6.25% in 2008. This tax increase targeted small business owners and over 3,000 Maryland millionaires who were living in the state at the time.

The end result of these outrageous tax abuses came only 12 months later when it was revealed that 1,000 millionaires had fled the state, those millionaires who remained filed income taxes in low tax states where they owned second homes. Also a multitude of small businesses were going out of business and leaving the state. A tax policy that was hyped to bring $106 million into the state backfired and instead created a loss to the state of $1 billion in revenues.

Clearly the tax policies of the Democratic Party are not working for Marylanders!

Since the beginning of 2008, the situation has gotten much worse and direr as Marylanders at all economic levels have been driven from their homes and livelihoods to states that are less expensive to live. Yes, General Assembly Democrats recognize and agree with Republicans that the economy is very bad in the state. Yet, time and time again they use the same old outdated and unsuccessful methods to try to stimulate the economy by increasing government spending and then later over-tax state residents to pay for those excessive spending habits. They do not understand basic economics and how destructive their actions are to our local economies. Simply put -- the Democrats are incapable of changing their worn out fiscal ideas and methods for the betterment of the state and our communities.

Residents vote with their feet and a lot of Marylanders have had their say since the mass migration out of the state since O'Malley took office in 2007. Between 2007 and 2012, the U. S. Census showed that 22,774 Marylanders have left our state.

Any tax increase on the state level is counter-productive. Over the last decade, states without income taxes or very low income taxes have had job growth of 18.2. Our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country at 6.1% with very little job growth in the past 7 years. In fact, Maryland has lost over 25,000 manufacturing jobs since 2007. Mainstay jobs at General Motors in Baltimore, Solo Cup factory in Owings Mills, and the steel mill at Sparrows Point have all gone away in the past 10 years. Excessive taxation killed these once thriving businesses and ended up hurting middle class families. If the private sector is over-taxed and cannot afford to expand their businesses, the trade union members lose their jobs. On the contrary, had lower income taxes been demanded of these companies, they would have been in a position to innovate and enhance labor productivity.

I favor a tax code that is based on tax rates as close to a job growth-maximizing rate as opposed to the existing revenue-maximizing rate.
If elected to represent you in Annapolis, I will:

Refuse to vote to raise any new taxes on individuals and businesses.
Go through the State budget line by line; question and validate the need for all expenditures asked by the Governor and all members of the General Assembly.
Construct a bill to eliminate wasteful spending that is not necessary for our state and or that impedes the government's ability to continue essential services.
Conduct myself in all fiscal matters of government as I would in my own personal businesses -- make every penny accountable and important to spend.

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