Poll results back higher Md. taxes

The Baltimore Sun

A majority of Marylanders want state leaders to raise enough new tax revenue to fix the state's budget shortfall and increase spending on education, health care and other priorities, a coalition of labor unions, environmental advocates and liberal groups said yesterday.

The Alliance for Tax Fairness released the results of a poll showing broad-based opposition to the idea of resolving Maryland's projected $1.5 billion budget shortfall by spending cuts alone. Respondents favored higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, the coalition said.

"Marylanders value a vibrant public sector and the services they get from the state government," said Sean Dobson, the director of Progressive Maryland. "They want lawmakers to find ways to pay for it, above all by asking millionaires to pay their fair share and not allow these corporate tax loopholes that let big, multistate firms get away Scot free."

The poll of 500 likely Maryland voters, conducted June 4-11 by Goodwin Simon Victoria Research of Silver Spring, found that 74 percent supported enacting more tax increases than would be necessary to fix the deficit so the state can also "protect education funding, seniors and the most vulnerable in society." Solid majorities from every region of the state agreed, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

The poll found that 87 percent of voters want tax reform to ensure that corporations that earn profits in Maryland pay taxes here, and 63 percent favor increasing the income tax rate to "about 6 percent" for households with annual incomes above $225,000. Excluding local income taxes, the top state income tax bracket now is 4.75 percent.

Increased tobacco taxes were supported by 72 percent of respondents.

Legalizing slot machine gambling - which some of the groups who sponsored the poll oppose - got support from 60 percent of respondents. Raising the sales tax by a penny was opposed by 55 percent, and increasing the gasoline tax by 12 cents a gallon to pay for roads and mass transit was opposed by 79 percent of those surveyed.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he believes Marylanders would prefer to pay more taxes than to see the kind of spending reductions that would be necessary to close the budget gap by cuts alone. He has also expressed support recently for a more progressive income tax structure and for closing corporate tax loopholes.

Many of the group's findings are likely to face opposition from Republicans who believe the state's problem is that it spends too much, not that it taxes too little.

"We are increasingly concerned that the tax-a-holics in Annapolis are intent on getting their next tax hike fix," said Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the minority leader from Southern Maryland. "We believe that with some restraint in the growth of state government, there are ways to fix this problem without raising taxes."

Dobson said the poll respondents agreed that cuts should be made - up to a point.

"They recognize some trims have to take place, but the poll points very clearly that they want just a few cuts," Dobson said. "They generally want more revenue to pay for the stuff they value."

The Alliance for Tax Fairness includes the Maryland League of Conservation Voters; the Maryland State Teachers Association; the Service Employees International Union; the League of Women Voters; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 1,000 Friends of Maryland; the Association of Nonprofit Organizations; and Progressive Maryland.

andy.green@baltsun.com

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