Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says state lawmakers must consider tax increases to help plug a projected budget shortfall that is expected to exceed $1 billion for fiscal 2013. “We need to be open to a balanced approach, including, if necessary, looking at revenues,” O’Malley said Monday on WTOP radio. He offered no specifics but he noted that the General Assembly rejected his proposal last year to index the state’s 23.5-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax to inflation.
The state Senate’s Budget and Taxation Committee recently reviewed a swath of potential new taxes that would apply to consumer services, such as accounting and landscaping, as well as snack food and prescription drugs.
The committee also considered raising gas taxes and a proposal that would tax large-scale Internet companies, such as Amazon.com, that do business with Maryland companies.
The budget committee is examining its revenue options in preparation for the General Assembly’s special session, which is convening in October to focus on redistricting.
Republican lawmakers in Maryland say they are staunchly opposed to any new tax increases, but they are greatly outnumbered in both chambers of the state legislature.
O’Malley said he expects to find broad support within the legislature for new tax increases.
“It will not be up to me,” he said. “It will take a group effort.”
O’Malley made the comments two days after traveling to Ocean City, where he warned a group of county leaders that deep budget cuts and tax increases may be on the horizon.
“We will all have to be open to more cuts, and at the same time — to protect our children’s future — we must be open to new revenues,” O’Malley said Saturday at the Maryland Association of Counties conference. “One year I hope to come here and proclaim the existence of a giant, deficit-slaying surplus. But that year isn’t this year.”
On whether he would consider taxing plastic shopping bags, as the District and Montgomery County have done, he responded: “I don’t know. What is your next question?”
