Hogan Proposes Massive Tax Cut

And by massive I mean about 0.1%

Hogan proposes tax relief in four areas

Gov. Larry Hogan used his first State of the State address to follow through on a campaign promise, vowing Wednesday to push for tax relief for small businesses, motorists and some retirees, and to seek repeal of a controversial stormwater fee.

"The people of Maryland simply cannot afford for us to continue on the same path of more spending, more borrowing, more taxes and politics as usual," Hogan told the General Assembly.

He did not recommend an across-the-board tax break that would affect most Marylanders, instead suggesting cuts in four areas that would have relatively minimal impact on state revenue in the short term. The proposals are likely to face stiff questions from Democrats, who control the legislature.

Needless to say, democrats were flabbergasted at thought of short changing their goals of increasing taxes, and recoiled in fear:

Democratic aides estimated that Hogan's proposed tax breaks would cost up to $30 million a year, based on previous legislative analyses of similar proposals. Hogan's staff pegged the cost at $27 million. Maryland's budget is roughly $39 billion.

Yep, roughly 0.1% in round numbers. The sky is falling!

Oh, and the four areas:

•Repeal law requiring stormwater fee that critics call the "rain tax."
•Stop taxing pension income of veterans, police, firefighters.
•For small businesses, exempt $10,000 in personal property from local taxes.
•Repeal law requiring Maryland's gas tax to rise with inflation.

While I agree with the notion of getting the urbanized counties to pay for their own stormwater management with the "rain tax", I think its implementation unfairly hits the more suburban and rural areas of their population. But since it doesn't affect us, we;ll, you get what you vote for.

Otherwise, these don't strike me as big changes, but then, it is only 0.1% of the budget.