The House of Delegates this week passed a $34 billion budget packed with taxes and fees that will hit Marylanders from the day they are born until the day they check into a nursing home. I voted "no," because the budget calls for spending 10.6 percent more than the current fiscal year and still leaves us with deficits of more than $1 billion a year for the foreseeable future.

The new fees and taxes include a doubling of fees for birth certificates, vehicle titling taxes, vanity license plates and land recording fees, as well as a new tax on hospitals and an increase in the nursing home tax. With spending increases nearly twice the rate of revenues, even more taxes are guaranteed. In fact, proposals for increased alcohol and gasoline taxes are still pending in committee, as are proposals for snack taxes and fees for plastic bags at stores.

Marylanders cannot absorb another round of tax and fee increases.

The House Republican Caucus tried unsuccessfully to cut state funding for abortions from the budget . Also, a Republican amendment was defeated that would have prohibited in-state college tuition rates for illegal immigrants. A bill already has passed the Senate that would offer them in-state rates. I will adamantly oppose this measure when it reaches the House next week.

Thankfully, the budget passed by the House is not the final word on state spending. It now goes to the Senate, and, from there, any differences will be worked out in a Conference Committee.

 

For more information on legislative action this week, you may be interested in reading the Legislative Wrap-Up, which is produced by the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services.

You may also want to check out the Republican House Caucus website.