Lower taxes would solve Maryland’s economic woes | READER COMMENTARY

Higher taxes is not the solution to projected state budget deficit.

A recent article in The Baltimore Sun indicates that there is a potential deficit of $761 million, with much larger deficits projected over the next five years (“Budgeting, education, transportation among top issues for 2024 legislative session,” Jan. 5). Democratic legislators apparently believe this problem, as well.as financing various pet projects, will be solved by a so-called millionaires’ tax as well as an increase in corporate taxes.

It doesn’t dawn on them that, according to recent U.S. Census figures, Maryland lost a net of 30,000 residents and perhaps, just perhaps, that may be due to their policies including taxes. The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board recently suggested, without providing evidence, that the migration from Maryland to the South is due to the South’s allegedly cheap land and letting folks develop it (“Md.’s high-income, low-unemployment economy shows cracks,” Jan. 4).

If this flimsy excuse is actually true, does it make sense to compound the problem with higher taxes? The Maryland General Assembly needs to learn the simple lesson that you don’t enact major programs to benefit supporters such as teacher unions without having a reasonable source of revenue to pay for it.

— Robert C. Erlandson, Columbia

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter.