Take these five steps to grow Maryland’s middle class | READER COMMENTARY

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson shared wise advice with The Baltimore Sun in February about Maryland tax and regulation policy: “It’s got to be viewed in the lens of competitiveness for the state of Maryland,” Ferguson said. “We have to compete with the states around us” (“Maryland revenue solutions in doubt after hearings on $1.6B plan to tax the rich, corporations in General Assembly,” Feb. 23).

I’m all in on Maryland. My company competes with China and Mexico but also Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio. We need a competitive state so I can win more orders from clients and then hire talent to fulfill those orders. We pay workers handsomely with rich benefits. Here are five policies to create jobs and uplift more local citizens from poverty to middle-class prosperity in Maryland:

1. Give a six-month reprieve to hire new talent by waiving all state taxes — payroll, unemployment, etc. — so that job creators are more aggressive in taking risks with unknown new hires. This will ease the transition and investment of costly training when new associates are most susceptible to resigning.
2. Provide 1:1 training grant matches. It is critical for companies to invest in training their talent to upskill employees. Our factory in Indiana has enjoyed this benefit for many years, and we should follow this Indiana model where the state offers a maximum training grant of $50,000 per year per company and a maximum $5,000 of training per employee. If we invest in this intense training regimen with our teams, it will make our employees more valuable and indispensable. We will increase their wages since they are so much more productive. Reducing the risk of training employees increases companies’ interest in training employees.
3. Extend the More Jobs For Marylanders Incentive Program, which is now set to sunset on June 1. It has been a fabulous tool for Maryland factories to lean in and hire local talent. Don’t let a good program die.
4. Create technology grants to allow our companies to lean in for the best tools. If our employees have better tools, they will have more secure jobs compared to China or Mexico. Our workforce needs the best technology. For example, Ohio is close to passing House Bill 435, the Manufacturing Technology Assistance Program (MTAP) which will help small to mid-sized manufacturers modernize and innovate production. Manufacturers with fewer than 500 employees can receive up to $150,000 to invest in smart technologies including machinery, equipment and training. We should be more aggressive than Ohio if we want our middle class to flourish. Moreover, Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer generously extended a grant to our new factory in Bronson, Michigan, through a performance-based grant. These Midwestern states have innovative approaches to grow local jobs that we need to exceed to deploy to be competitive.
5. Retain accelerated depreciation for manufacturers consistent with federal law and bonus provisions to allow immediate expensing of property plant and equipment investment (meaning the state would not decouple from federal law). This law will enable companies to continuously upgrade their factories with the best state-of-the-art equipment making them less vulnerable to overseas and domestic competition.

Following Senate President Ferguson’s sage vision to make our state more competitive will grow our middle class and stabilize our community.

— Drew Greenblatt, Baltimore

The writer is owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products which has manufactured in Baltimore since 1998 and was established in 1968.

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