Be prepared for higher taxes, Wicomico County residents. State legislators are poised to enact an income tax hike and a variety of other tax and fee increases to pay for the state’s spending. Their plans to shift part of the funding obligation for teacher pensions to the counties and to place new restrictions on education funding will ultimately mean increases in county taxes. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. If our legislators would truly trim spending there would be no need for state and county tax hikes. 

Supporters of these tax hikes and spending shifts say they are necessary to avoid a “doomsday budget.” The state senate’s budget committee approved a budget that avoided this so-called “doomsday,” but a quick perusal shows it contains plenty of waste.

For instance, it allocates $7 million for Sustainable Communities Tax Credit, $257 million to buy and operate slot machines in Maryland casinos, $1.4 million to operate horse racing tracks, $4 million for organizations like the National Museum of Ceramic Art and Glass, and $88 million for corporate welfare through the Division of Business and Enterprise Development and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation.

I’m well aware that even if the state eliminated all these programs it would still be facing fiscal problems. But the fact that these wasteful initiatives survive shows that our legislators aren’t serious about addressing the state’s spending problems. They clearly aren’t making the hard choices to cut spending if they refuse to make what should be easy decisions to end wasteful programs.

In these dismal fiscal times, our legislators can’t stop subsidizing the state’s dying horse racing industry? They can’t make casino owners buy their own slot machines? They can’t tell the National Museum of Ceramic Art and Glass that it will have to go without taxpayer money for at least one year?

The budget isn’t finished yet. The House of Delegates can still make changes and really cut spending. It’s unlikely they will choose the path of fiscal responsibility, however. It’s much easier for them to burden taxpayers with new taxes and shift spending to counties instead of saying “no” to the lobbyists in Annapolis.

When you’re at Ocean Downs, look closely at the taxpayer-funded slot machines. They, and a host of other wasteful spending, are the reason you’ll be paying higher taxes in the future.