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.
“They ought to reduce spending,” said Griffith Monahan, 68, of New Windsor, Md., as he watched a horse show with his wife, JoAnn. “But I have a feeling that is not what is going to happen.”
Mr. O’Malley has pointed to two culprits in his campaign to educate residents on the deficit: a 1998 income tax cut, which drained between $700 million and $1 billion from the state’s income, and a $1.3 billion increase in education spending passed in 2002.
“The information, I feel, is definitely available,” said Janet Mackey, a beekeeper from Crownsville, Md., as she peddled blueberries, alfalfa and clover honey in the fair’s farm and garden pavilion.
“We don’t have much of an option on cutting back on services. … I support more taxes. We probably have to look at the corporate taxes,” she said. “I live in Maryland instead of Virginia on purpose.”
Not everyone agreed.
“My taxes in Charles County were just raised,” said Janet Boynes-Adams, 56, of Waldorf, Md., as she snacked on a corndog. “It’s ridiculous.”
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