Miller says Maryland taxpayers may get bill for O’Malley plans

ANNAPOLIS — State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. yesterday said tax increases — including sales and gasoline taxes — need to be considered if Gov.-elect Martin O’Malley is to keep his campaign promises on education, transportation and health care.

“Somehow, someplace, somebody is going to have to pay for it, and it is going to be the Maryland taxpayer,” Mr. Miller, Southern Maryland Democrat, told reporters as he entered Loews Annapolis Hotel for a meeting with legislative leaders and Mr. O’Malley.

But Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, said he does not plan to propose higher taxes — although the Democrat-controlled legislature may offer its own ideas. He declined to pledge not to increase state sales and income taxes as did Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican who lost his re-election bid last month to Mr. O’Malley.

“I didn’t make that one pledge in the campaign,” said Mr. O’Malley, who is serving a second term as Baltimore’s mayor. “I don’t plan to introduce any taxes, [but] I want to keep an open mind. I hope we can all keep an open mind.”

He held the meeting yesterday with top Democratic lawmakers to draft an agenda for the General Assembly session beginning Jan. 10. He will be sworn in as governor Jan. 17.

Maryland’s embattled Republican leaders welcomed a tax debate said state Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a Baltimore County Republican and minority whip during Mr. Ehrlich’s tenure.

“If [Mr. Miller] wants to talk about raising the sales tax, let’s bring it on,” said Mr. Harris, who yesterday narrowly lost the caucus election for minority leader to Sen. David R. Brinkley of Western Maryland.

He said Mr. Miller likely proposed the tax increase in order to promote legalized slot-machine gambling as an alternative revenue source.

Mr. Miller championed legalized slots, which was a top priority of Mr. Ehrlich that was blocked for four years by House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel County Democrat.

Last year, Mr. O’Malley increased city taxes by $30 million, including a higher property-tax rate and new taxes on cell phones, telephones and energy.

Baltimore residents now pay a $3.50 per month tax on cell phones, a 12 percent tax on traditional telephone service and a 2 percent tax on energy.

The mayor had proposed $45 million in higher taxes, but the City Council trimmed the bill by $15 million.

At the time, Mr. O’Malley defended the increase by saying it would forestall cuts to “quality-of-life” services such as trash collection and policing.

As the governor-elect and Democratic lawmakers arrived at the hotel yesterday, they said legislative priorities would include increasing spending on public education and school construction, expanding access to health care and investing in new roads and mass-transit projects.

The agenda echoed many of Mr. O’Malley’s campaign promises.

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