November 19, 2007 |
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First of all, good afternoon. And it’s certainly good to see everyone.
And I want to follow-up first and foremost by thanking the Governor. I think Governor O’Malley showed a tremendous amount of conviction and courage to go out and lay out a plan to solve the budget deficit that basically has plagued this State for over six years, two administrations. And going out and selling that revenue structure to the citizens of the State of Maryland, coming back and giving the opportunity for the legislature to put its imprint upon it.
And so first of all, I want to thank you, Governor. We couldn’t have done it without your leadership. That’s a certainty.
But I do want to mention that there’s many legislators here in both Houses that worked long and hard to put this together. And I know on the House side the theme for many years has been one Maryland. And I’m happy to say that in the revenue package in the gaming referendum that people from Western Maryland, Southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, the conviction that they had, along with people from the Washington and Baltimore suburbs and the suburban areas around the State, came together and all had a part of solving the problem.
And I don’t think anyone showed that conviction more than the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which is Norm Conway. And if you’re in that legislature, the people there understand what it was for him to stand up and to vote for the entire package. And I appreciate the conviction of the colleagues that I work with.
And it wasn’t limited just to one political party. There were people from both parties that participated. We were very happy in the House and I believe in the Senate when it came to a compromise to give an $800 exemption to individuals. It raises the exemption from $2,400 to $3,200 for 95 percent of Marylanders. That means for a family of four they will receive $250 more a year in tax relief, $250 more. That’s to mitigate the increase that we expect most families to feel from the increase in the sales tax, which is about $175.
So we believe that many Marylanders will either be held whole or have some kind of benefit from the tax plan that’s coming out of Governor O’Malley’s package, which both the Senate and the House has approved.
But I think this is a day that moves Maryland forward, puts all the demons behind us that we have struggled with for the last six years. But let me reiterate that we could not have done that without the executive of this State, Governor Martin O’Malley, getting out there and leading the way to bring both the Senate and the House and the political leaders together.
So I thank you once again, Governor. And I thank the President of the Senate, who did a magnificent job once again in his chambers. So, thank you very much. (Applause.)