ANNAPOLIS — Maryland lawmakers and business owners are questioning Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposal to give a $3,000 tax credit to businesses for each unemployed Maryland resident they hire.

“Let’s say I laid off half of my staff,” Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr., R-Washington, said Thursday in a House Ways and Means hearing. “Why would I want to hire them back for $3,000, if I have no work for them?”