This is not to imply that this tax cut is a bad idea, or that those who have labored so diligently over the years to make it possible should be anything other than proud of their work. And the need for tax cuts is, if anything, even greater than it was in 1994, when I made a 24 percent income-tax cut a centerpiece of my gubernatorial campaign. Since then, many of our neighboring states have made themselves more competitive with tax cuts and regulatory reforms. In New Jersey, Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman made good last year on the final portion of the 30 percent income-tax cut she promised in 1993. 6 Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York are also benefiting from the simulative effects of a less confiscatory tax system.
Conservative ideas are in ascendance all up and down the eastern seaboard.
So the war for fiscal responsibility in Annapolis grows all the more desperate. Those who care about prosperity and economic opportunity in Maryland must continue to battle for tax cuts and regulatory reform. But they should also open up a few new fronts. First, let us impose some spending discipline by putting a firm ceiling on state expenditure growth. In most, TELs limit the annual growth of the state budget to the rate of growth of state personal income.