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Letter to Delegates about Special Session Revenue Package

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To: 
Maryland State Delegates
From: 
LWV of Maryland

These letters were delivered to the Delegates along with little packets of red, white, and blue jelly beans. They were a great hit! A couple of delegates tore right into them and started eating while LWVMD members were making our case. At any rate, they'll get noticed in the piles of papers on their desks.

Dear Delegate: We hope you are better bean counters than your colleagues in the Senate as the revenue package that they passed just doesn’t add up. The League of Women Voters was hopeful that the General Assembly would enact measures to solve the fiscal crisis that are both adequate and progressive. We submitted testimony supporting several aspects of the Governor’s proposal that have been removed by the Senate. We look to you to repair the damage. These are our specific concerns:

• Combined reporting should be implemented. Compelling testimony on the opening day of the special session revealed that many states with combined reporting have robust economies and the “businesses will leave your state scenario” just didn’t play out.

• Implementation of a progressive income tax structure. We supported the governor’s tax rate on wealthy folks. In order to raise more revenue without implementing slots, we propose adding an additional of 5% rate for singles with incomes greater than $90,000 and couples with incomes greater than $100,000. We strongly support the increased EITC and the other measures to help those with lower incomes that were in the Governor’s plan.

• Put back the $50 credit in order to limit the regressivity of the sales tax.

• Diverting a portion of the sales tax to the TTF only makes the General Fund problem bigger. We support the plan to index the gas tax to the CCI so that it would grow as construction costs grow. We also support an initial increase in the gas tax that would be larger than the 1/2 cent proposed in the O’Malley plan.

• The League strongly opposes slot machine gambling. This revenues source brings a bevy of problems and will do nothing to make our state better. Without a larger, more progressive system of revenue generation, many programs and services including education, health care, and environmental protection will be in jeopardy.

 

Maryland has the resources to be a great state with opportunities for a good quality of life for all of its residents. In the past, the House has taken the lead on a responsible system of revenue. We urge you to take this moment in history to make this potential a reality.