Maryland lost 6,200 jobs in April according to the latest available numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maryland is the only state in the region to experience significant job losses last month while many parts of the country have begun a path towards economic recovery.
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Change Maryland was founded in May of 2011 by former Cabinet Secretary Larry Hogan in an effort to bring fiscal responsibility and common sense to Annapolis. The two year campaign to Change Maryland has grown into the largest and fastest-growing, grassroots citizen organization in the state with more than 40,000 people involved in the movement, from every single county in Maryland.
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Speaking to Kent County Republicans, at a packed room in Chestertown last night, Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan directly took aim at Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, who is announcing his candidacy for governor tomorrow.
Annapolis – Change Maryland released today stunning new figures on the tax impact that is accruing to Marylander’s since 2007. In two separate reports released today, Change Maryland documents the cumulative impact to 2014 and the one projected to 2018, the latest year for which there are official government estimates.
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Annapolis – Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan released the following statement today upon Gov. Martin O’Malley’s return from overseas travel in his first public appearance to address the Baltimore prison scandal.
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Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan called on Gov. Martin O’Malley to cut short his international travel, return from the Middle East and to postpone his musings about running for President until he has addressed a serious issue of major corruption in the state’s prison system. More than a dozen Maryland state prison guards helped a dangerous national gang operate a criminal enterprise from behind bars according to federal prosecutors.
Annapolis – Change Maryland, the largest and fastest growing nonpartisan, grassroots movement in the state, announced today that their group has swelled to 35,000 people from every single county in Maryland. The organization has grown by 10,000, just since the 90 day tax-raising, legislative session began in January. Change Maryland has quantified, brought to the public’s attention, and led the fight against the 37 consecutive O’Malley tax, toll and fee hikes that have taken an additional $3.1 billion more each year out of the pockets of struggling Maryland families and small businesses.
Annapolis – Change Maryland released today an updated list of tax, fee and toll increases under the O’Malley Administration. This latest report details 37 increases that remove an additional $3.1 billion more out of the pockets of Marylander’s every year.
Annapolis – Change Maryland released today an updated list of tax, fee and toll increases enacted under the O’Malley Administration. This latest report shows 32 increases that remove $2.3 billion out of the economy annually. As final passage in the legislature of yet more record-high taxes and fees appear imminent, the list is a reminder of the ever-increasing amount struggling Marylander’s are being asked to pay for the big-government ambitions of politicians.
Annapolis – As expected, the full House voted today to approve motor fuel taxes, and the Senate will now take up the measure before the General Assembly adjourns on April 8. Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan released the following statement:
“A proposal as unpopular as this one must be hidden from public view and carefully timed to avoid news cycles. In fact, this proposal is so unpopular that the Governor announced it in the evening, the first hearings were held on a Friday afternoon the same day as the death penalty vote, House passage is on a Friday afternoon, and final votes are taking place in the closing weeks of this legislative session.
“Just as unpopular is Governor O’Malley’s record of raising taxes and fees. There are currently 32 enacted measures that remove $2.3 billion out of the economy annually. Marylander’s are now faced with the prospect of paying another $800 million on top of the $2.3 billion a year we’re already paying in new taxes if this passes the Senate without substantive changes from the Governor’s proposal.
“Last week, House Ways and Means committee leadership was missing altogether. The majority on the committee performed a rush job on hearings, and their rubber-stamp mentality failed the public miserably.
“Committee leaders provided yet another platform for the big county executives, who time and again have pleaded for more revenues that help their urban areas. Missing from this were elected officials from rural parts of the state. Instead, we heard the tired argument that we need more transportation money to attract the FBI headquarters to Prince George’s County. Here we go again – relying on the federal government instead of putting in place policies that attract Fortune 500 companies and small businesses back to our state. Moreover, nobody at the FBI is conditioning the move on Maryland increasing gasoline taxes, and this argument is simply pathetic.
“We are approaching the one-year anniversary of when the Transportation secretary first announced her resignation. The Governor has had three General Assembly sessions in which to get a permanent secretary confirmed and who could have possibly avoided the bumbling performance we saw from the acting secretary in the Ways and Means hearing. Basic questions such as funding bridge repairs and realigning infrastructure investments based on how Marylander’s actually travel were met with bureaucratic non-answers.
“I am also disgusted that top elected officials would compare Virginia’s enacted transportation revenues as an excuse to further tax Marylander’s. Our tax code is a self-inflicted wound, which is why Virginia bests Maryland in every single economic performance metric there is.
“As for the bill itself, the so-called lock box provision is worthless and it should not even be called that. Indexing the existing excise tax to inflation guarantees never-ending increases, and nothing has been done to stop the distorted spending levels on mass transit.
“This bill is a penalty that Marylanders will pay during every trip to a gas station for electing people to office who put their own interests ahead of theirs.”
Paid for by ChangeMaryland
Copyright 2012