Montgomery County residents headed to Annapolis Monday to protest the governor’s plans to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, many of whom live in the county.
“We are not the ATM of this state,” Bill Witham, second vice chairman of the county Republican Party said. “They need to understand that. We are not a bunch of sheep being led to slaughter.”
Gov. Martin O’Malley has proposed a 20 percent increase in the sales tax, changing the state’s income tax structure to increase rates for people making more than $150,000 and using slot machines to close a $1.7 billion budget gap.
Data from the state comptroller’s office has projected Montgomery County residents will generate more than 80 percent of the increased income tax revenue due to O’Malley’s plans to reduce income tax rates for most residents but raise them from 4.75 percent to 6 percent for people earning more than $150,000 and to 6.5 percent for people earning more than $500,000.
Sylvia Darrow, president of the Montgomery County Federation of Republican Women, acknowledged that fighting against tax increases was “like preaching to the choir” for many in Monday’s delegation but said that she believed residents across party lines in Montgomery were “incensed” by plans to raise taxes.
“This is going to hit a lot of young couples coming into this county that are just starting to get into higher income brackets,” Darrow said. “I have been retired for 10 years, and we are already losing retirees to other states for this reason.”
Many of the protesters took issue with the fact that there was a budget deficit in the first place.
“We have a situation where there is out-of-control, superfluous spending that has led us into a $1.7 bill deficit,” said Adol Owen-Williams, a former Republican candidate for the Montgomery County Council.
“The Republican Party does not oppose helping people who are down on their luck, but the fact of the matter is that Gov. [Robert] Ehrlich [Jr.] was easily able to maintain a more than a $1 billion surplus that was eviscerated as soon as O’Malley came into office.”
