Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) issued dire warnings Saturday about the prohibitive cost of proposed education reform in Maryland, vowing to oppose any measures that would result in higher taxes or budget deficits.
Speaking at the close of the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City, where how to pay for the recommendations of the so-called Kirwan Commission to boost public education has been a hot topic, Hogan faulted the legislature for advancing “well-meaning but half-baked, fiscally irresponsible” proposals that could bankrupt the state.
Hogan said fully funding the costs of the Kirwan blueprint, estimated at about $4 billion – half of which would be borne by the counties, half from the state – would require a 9.3% increase in the personal income tax, an 89% hike in the sales tax, and a 535% boost in property taxes. The plan would create an $18 billion state deficit, he said, and “a bruising” $6,200 tax hike for the average Maryland family over the next five years.
“Not a single one of these things is ever going to happen while I’m governor of the state of Maryland,” Hogan asserted, pointing to $32 billion in investments in K-12 education during his 4 ½-year tenure.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters