Eventually it may be something which needs to be changed, but for now this is the prudent move as a fairly rare show of bipartisan support for fiscal responsibility. While this came to my attention last week it’s a good time to visit things which have to do with our General Assembly. This comes from the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus:
In response to harsh Republican opposition and taxpayer outrage, the Democrat leadership of the Maryland General Assembly issued a statement (last week) and conceded that there will be no proposals to increase legislative compensation over the next four-year term.
Senate Minority Leader Allan Kittleman issued the following statement with regard to the recommendations of the Maryland General Assembly Compensation Commission:
“With so much hardship facing Maryland’s taxpayers, now is not the time for legislators to consider pay increases or other enhanced compensation. Unfortunately, historic tax increases and bad policy decisions by Governor O’Malley has significantly added to the fiscal burden that has been placed on Maryland’s citizens. While Republican legislators have strongly opposed this “tax and spend” mentality, the Democrat majority has rubber-stamped the O’Malley agenda instead of stopping this economic “piling on” of our fiscally-stressed taxpayers. Maryland taxpayers are absolutely correct when they express their outrage on this process.”
We have been. Actually, many of the wealthiest taxpayers are voting with their feet and heading off to more friendly tax climates like Florida. (Admittedly, at the moment the weather there is no bargain.)
And the flight isn’t limited to taxpayers, as businesses are fleeing the state too.
Later this year, there will be an interesting test case of how Maryland attracts businesses in competition with other states. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman is moving from Los Angeles (yep, another business leaves California) to the Washington, D.C. area in order to be closer to its government customer base.
Unless Maryland figures out a way to sweeten the pot, my wager is that Northrop Grumman decides the better business climate of Virginia will be the right home for them. It’s a story repeated far too many times, to the detriment of would-be employees in Maryland.
