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Show me the numbers

Originally Published in the Frederick News-Post

Government Transparency

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

For hours last Wednesday Gov. Martin O'Malley didn't tell residents the price of the state budget he had just released.

Amazingly, he also tried to deny that the budget had gone up from the previous year, saying he had cut $7.5 billion from state government during his administration. "You can parse the numbers all you like, you won't find an administration that has contained spending like mine," Mr. O'Malley said at his news conference on the subject.

Reporters, of course, asked for the missing pieces of financial information, and he and his staff eventually revealed that the fiscal 2013 plan was $35.9 billion -- or nearly 20 percent larger than the first budget he submitted for fiscal 2008.

Thankfully the media know the bottom line is not a footnote. But his attempt to hide the numbers reveals the contempt O'Malley -- a nationally recognized champion of transparency -- holds for those who pay the state's bills.

What other alternative is there to that explanation? That he forgot?

The growth in state spending is amazing to think about when put in the context of the local and national economy. Almost 100,000 more people are out of work in Maryland than prior to the start of the recession. And since taking the helm, O'Malley has pushed across-the-board tax increases and is recommending more this year.

The potential hikes target people he deems "rich." Taxes could also be raised on gasoline and wastewater. The previous increases have not solved chronic budget deficits over $1 billion and are making the state less and less competitive with its neighbors -- the same places that Marylanders are moving to by the thousands, according to IRS data. New taxes promise to plug the hole for another year or so, but offer no long-term relief.

Maryland has outside problems, too. With the federal government cracking under its own weight, Maryland -- the recipient of $80 billion in federal funds in 2009 -- could see a drop in tax revenue if high-earning federal contractors or federal employees lose their jobs due to budget cuts or if projects are dropped.

None of this should be a surprise to legislators. For years the lines between state spending and state revenue have been moving in the opposite direction -- at the same time they were passing expensive new entitlements with no funding source.

But it is time for elected officials and for O'Malley to stop pretending that bigger government will put people back to work and solve the state's fiscal problems. The only group that has not been shouldering its "fair share" is government, and at some point there will be a tipping point from which the state cannot go back.

Legislators should not try to find that tax point this year, or they will see an even heavier outflow of the state's wealthiest residents, along with jobs and investment. Taxes are not the only thing that matter to people, but when they reach the level of self-flagellation, mass exodus, as from New York and California, is sure to follow.