ANNAPOLIS – As the Senate budget committee continued slashing program funds Thursday to fill a growing budget gap, some lawmakers began clamoring to halt the 2 percent income tax cut in order to trim less from them.
“I don’t think it is good government or common sense to follow through (on the tax cut) when we have such incredible shortfalls,” said Delegate Elizabeth Bobo, D-Howard.
Bobo was one of nine delegates who signed a letter petitioning for the delay of the tax cut. But the movement is not limited to the House.
“You’re talking about a $1.50 per week (savings) for the average family,” said Sen. Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery. The amount is insignificant, he said, especially considering the vital programs that will be deeply cut as a result.
Sens. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s, and Christopher Van Hollen Jr., D-Montgomery, have also said they support such a proposal.
Van Hollen recently resigned his chairman’s seat on the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, which must recommend such cuts, saying he didn’t want to have to defend the coming reductions to such programs.
Many lawmakers have adamantly argued to preserve the final phase of the tax cut promised to voters since 1997.
“We’re not going to go back on our word,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert. There are issues of trust in the government and being able to downsize when it’s necessary, he said.
But even with the $175 million the state could gain from delaying the tax cut, lawmakers would still face difficult decisions.
Revenues are projected to be down $250 million from estimates, bringing the projected budget shortfall to $1.25 billion, said Sen. Barbara Hoffman, D- Baltimore, chairwoman of the Budget and Taxation Committee.
Her committee met Thursday to review proposed cuts made by subcommittees to areas such as education, transportation, health, and the capital budget.
The committee’s target is to nick about $400 million from the operating budget, in order to leave the new governor and General Assembly next year with a “clean slate and money to spend.”
“No one enjoyed (proposing the cuts),” Hoffman said.
Committee members said they tried to target administration costs and long-term vacant positions where possible to gain the needed savings.
Among the areas facing fund and position reductions were: – $24 million and 308 jobs from health and human service budgets. – $59 million and 426 jobs from public safety, transportation, and environment budgets with $19 million of the cuts coming from the judiciary branch.
– $105 million and 89 positions from education, business, and administration budgets, including a $31 million reduction to the University System of Maryland. – $104 million from converting capital budget PAYGO funds to general obligation bonds.
The cuts are not set in stone, Hoffman said. Several other pieces of pending legislation to be heard this weekend could change the final numbers, she said.