Nation's Largest Taxpayer Group Calls On Maryland Legislators to Reject Any and All Tax Hikes

3/25/2003

From: John Berthoud or Pete Sepp, 703-683-5700 both of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 25 -- John Berthoud, President of the 335,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), today renewed the group's call for Maryland State Legislators to resist "any and all" proposals for higher taxes. "NTU wants to remind Legislators that Maryland's fiscal problems are not due to a lack of revenue. The state faces a budget crunch because of excessive government spending in recent years. Just as most Maryland households have had to tighten their belts because of the recent economic slowdown, it is time for Maryland government to re-prioritize and cut less important programs," observed Berthoud.

Berthoud urged Legislators to consider the following as reasons to reject more taxes:

-- Total General Fund spending in Maryland rose by 50 percent during the 1990s. While projected spending for Fiscal Year 2003 is below last year's level, by historical standards, state spending is still at record highs. -- Adjusting for inflation, Maryland increased per capita state spending by 27 percent in real terms from 1991-2000. In other words, for every dollar that Maryland was spending per resident in 1991, by 2000 it was spending $1.27 (adjusting for inflation). -- Educational spending has been skyrocketing. In just the past two decades, real per pupil expenditures in Maryland have soared by 31.2 percent. Despite this profusion of spending, in 2001, Maryland ACT and SAT scores were below the national average. Educational spending per pupil and the educational spending growth rate in Maryland are both above the national average.

The adverse consequences of higher taxes were documented in Berthoud's recent study, Solutions to the States' Budget Ills published by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). The study reviewed a range of research showing a strong causal relationship between higher taxes and poor economic performance. States which enacted tax hikes during the last budget crisis (in the early 1990s) experienced slower income, employment, and population growth during the ensuing decade, which in turn only fueled the fiscal problems that the new taxes were supposed to cure.

"Spending has ballooned in Maryland - Annapolis needs to go on a diet rather than shakedown overburdened taxpayers for even more money. Last fall, Robert Ehrlich promised to reject higher taxes. It is time for the Governor and Legislature to deliver on that promise and put a stop to any and all proposals for tax hikes," Berthoud concluded.

The National Taxpayers Union was founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, the elimination of wasteful spending, and more accountable government at all levels. NTU has 335,000 members nationwide, including 8,000 in Maryland.

The National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) is its research affiliate. More information, including copies of NTUF Policy Paper 140, Solutions to the States' Budget Ills, is available online at http://www.ntu.org.