In the not so distant aftermath of the most recent penny per dollar increase in state sales tax and any number of hikes in fees prior to that, a new gas tax, or any other state tax increase this year, is an insult to the people of Maryland.
Since before Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. became governor, state officials have been talking about a $1 billion dollar structural deficit, as if it were insurmountable. A billion dollars is a lot of money, but it's a scant 1/36th of the state's $36 billion budget. In four years, Ehrlich was unable to set the budget straight, and in the ensuing six years, Martin O'Malley has proved just as inept at taming the government bureaucracy's insatiable appetite for money.
If it were a question of adding taxes for the purpose of paying for essential new services, that might be one thing, but the proposal to jack up already high gas prices will only begin to pay for things we used to get by paying proportionately less per person. In other words, even as our taxes have kept up with inflation, the state government has been spending at a rate greater than inflation to do what it used to do for less.
Whether it's in a household, a business or a government, this is nothing more than financial indiscretion. Under Ehrlich and O'Malley, it has been made abundantly clear it's not a problem of party, but rather a lack of imagination and willpower.
This latest round of tax increase proposals should be rejected, in exchange for realistic cuts in state spending instead. Our state's elected officials from both parties owe it to us to have enough sense to see that cutting one out of every 36 dollars is better for everyone than raising taxes and fees so Maryland's government can continue to spend, spend, spend.