October 15, 2007 |
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LT. GOVERNOR BROWN: Ladies and gentlemen, the Governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley. (Applause.)
GOVERNOR O'MALLEY: Thanks very much, Anthony. Thanks a lot.
Thank you all and thank you, Lt. Governor.
Let's get the first part of this announcement and business done up front. I am going to be calling -- in fact, I've already signed an Executive Order, which we will share with you after this press conference -- to ask the men and women of the Maryland General Assembly to come into special session beginning on October 29th, to resolve and to remove the obstacle that lies in the path of our progress and that is a $1.7 billion structural deficit that, quite frankly, has come about because of two decisions made at roughly the same time. One was to reduce our revenues with a $1 billion income tax cut and the other was to increase our rate of investment with a $1.5 billion investment in public schools.
In order for us to be able to do all of the things that we expect of our State, of ourselves as a community, as Marylanders, in order to strengthen and grow our middle class, in order to improve public safety and public education and in order to expand opportunity, we do need a Government that actually works, a Government that is fiscally responsible, a Government that steps up to the critical needs that we have as a people, whether it's roads and infrastructure, public safety, public schools, our environmental health, a Government that works is a part of what it takes for us to be able to defend our quality of life.
But there's another very essential thing that's required in order to preserve the Maryland that we love, and that is for each of us to realize -- those of us that are in Government, the 188 of us who have this shared responsibility to forge and find a consensus -- we must realize that the decisions that we make today are important, not only for all of us who are alive and well, but it=s also important for those that come after us. It=s important for our kids and it=s important for our children=s children.
And I=m calling on all the members of the General Assembly, regardless of party affiliation, to realize that we are blessed with a tremendous freedom. And that is the freedom to be able to find a consensus, to be able to work responsibly, to be able to take the actions required in order to make tomorrow better and stronger for the next generation.
We have advanced in the course of a lot of deliberations and a lot of conversations with leadership and individual members of the General Assembly, a comprehensive plan. It=s laid out in points before you. In essence, this plan allows us to remove this obstacle of this structural deficit and to do so in a way that is not only mindful of Maryland=s competitive standing with surrounding States, but also in a way that is a lot fairer to the working people of our State who have been taking it on the chin over the last seven years of wage stagnation and taxation by stealth, taxation by fee, taxation by toll, taxation by property increase.
This is a forward looking plan. It is broad enough and it is flexible enough for the men and women of the General Assembly to arrive at a consensus. Its four components, recapping, is a fair and more progressive income tax, it is an increase in what is currently the 42nd lowest sales tax in the nation. It is also a reduction of -- slight reduction -- of that property tax back to where it was before it was raised by a nickel a few years back.
And it puts -- and it would put to rest the thorny issue of slots and allow us to be able to recapture those dollars that are currently leaving the State and going to other surrounding jurisdictions, enabling us to protect the open spaces, horse and ag. related, and also enabling us to balance this budget in the out years.
There are other components to this as well. Like demanding that we close corporate loopholes by which unfairly tax dollars are also escaping from the critical public needs we have. It reinvests in transportation solutions $400 million.
And does other important things, the bottom line of which is this -- you know, there=s one very simple alternative to coming together and forging a consensus for the future. And that is to default and go back to the more immediate past, when Maryland was raiding her transportation funds for open space dollars. There is -- you know, education, public safety and healthcare make up about 84 percent of our State budget and if we are to go back to that simply live for today sort of outlook, the alternatives are pretty damaging to the quality of life that all of us cherish as Marylanders.
It -- and I don=t think that that=s the future that any of us would prefer, a future where we reduce our investments in affordable college, where we go backwards on Thornton instead of forward on Thornton. Where we are no longer are able to preserve the natural beauty of our State, where we no longer are able to make sure that the roads and the bridges are safe and where we are no longer able to invest in mass transit. That=s not the future that the Lt. Governor and I articulated and really reflected over the course of this campaign when we talked about our vision for a better and stronger Maryland.
The time for delay has passed and I am very, very optimistic. I am optimistic about what the leaders of our State can accomplish when they know that so much is at stake. We want to move forward, we do not want to move back.
The Special Session will begin October 29th and the presiding officers -- I=ve spoken with both of them, as well as with the leader of -- the minority leader of the Senate and the minority leader of the House. We have the ability to come together and we have the ability to forge a consensus and, in so doing, we also have the ability to be able to look ourselves in the mirror in the morning and say we did the right thing, not just for today but for our kids and for tomorrow.
Be glad to answer any questions you might have.