Fairgoers say taxes not solution

TIMONIUM, Md. — Marylanders may not know all the gritty details of the state’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall, but many of those who attended the state fair yesterday said they don”t want Gov. Martin O’Malley to address it by raising their taxes.

“Why is he putting the taxes up?” asked Bud Jones, 65, a retired truck driver from Glen Burnie, Md.

Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, is scheduled today to visit the Maryland State Fair at the Timonium Fairgrounds in Baltimore County. Since the 2007 General Assembly session ended in April, one of Mr. O’Malley’s most pressing tasks has become to convince Maryland residents of the seriousness of the state”s budget deficit.

An informal polling of state fairgoers yesterday showed he has more work to do.

“The budget deficit is everywhere. It’s in my pocketbook,” said Cindy Heaps, 57, of Jarrettsville, Md., as she watched over 4-year-old Daisy Radebaugh, of Monkton, Md.

Mrs. Heaps said that state leaders should take a pay cut if they want residents to pay more taxes.

“If everyone else can take a cut, then they need to, too,” she said.

Some fairgoers admitted they were uninformed about the deficit.

“I really don’t know that much about it,” said Amy Lentzner, 51, of Union Bridge, Md. Mrs. Lentzner was at the fair to show her percheron horse, Ginger Lady.

“How did they get behind the eight ball so quickly?” asked her husband, Bud, 67.

Mac Ensor, 65, a retiree from Woodstock, Md., had the same question.

“I just don’t know how we went from having a big surplus into a deficit,” he said.

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, left office with $1.8 billion in the state savings account. Mr. O’Malley drew $1.2 billion from the state’s coffers this year to cover a $1 billion shortfall in his first budget.

Since taking office he has cut $85 million from the state’s $15 billion general fund, which is expected to come up $1.5 billion short next year.

But to many Maryland residents yesterday, the details of the problem seemed less important than the specter of an increased tax bill.

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