If Maryland business were a voice, it would be a whisper. A barely audible one from the mouth of a dying patient.
How else to explain Gov. Martin O?Malley?s confidence in proposing a slate of new taxes and the lemming-like compliance of almost every Democratic member of the General Assembly?
It?s certainly not for a lack of business groups. Or for the size of the private sector. An analysis by Johns Hopkins University economist Steve Hanke shows the private sector is gradually becoming more important to this traditionally government-heavy state.
So what is it?
According to Rocky Worcester, president of Maryland Business for Responsive Government, “Maryland business is cowed and averse to the kind of conflict required to challenge the status quo.”
In a state ruled by one party, that is not far-fetched.
But maybe its something deeper. Maybe it has to do with the definition of business itself.
In Worcester?s mind people who believe in business believe in low taxes and minimal regulation. Business is an umbrella word for a system that gives individuals the greatest power to choose their destiny ? and to succeed and fail.
In Gov. Martin O?Malley?s mind it is a tool to “lead our country into yet another chapter of the American Revolution ? a revolution based on the dignity of the individual and powered by our shared responsibility to advance the common good,” as he said in his inauguration speech. To most people that is almost incomprehensible government speak. But it outlines a world view that holds government?s definition of “common good” above individuals.?
Sometimes the interests of those different world views overlap. Most of the time they don?t ? which makes using the term “business” almost meaningless.
But it doesn?t change the fact that business ? in its technical definition as an organization that produces goods and services and generates revenue ? is the sole reason government can exist.
Bludgeoning it with an 18 percent higher corporate tax, raising the personal taxes of those who create them and expanding sales tax may advance O?Malley?s version of the common good temporarily. But it ultimately leaves less to spread out among Maryland residents as taxes slow hiring, reduce sales and repel new business from choosing our state.
That means those who know individual liberty and enterprise are at risk here can?t afford to whisper ? they must speak out for the sake of all.
