A MEssage from President Paul Lemle
Where We Stand on Tax reform
Many Americans love to pay taxes. For my students in government class, we tackled it as a more complicated question—what benefits and services do we receive, and who pays for them?
That becomes an especially pressing question when we see so many big businesses and wealthy individuals take home unimaginable profits while for many of us, the tax system seems hopelessly complex and unfair. Something must be done. There is no question about this: the governor and General Assembly will consider major tax reform this session. The reason is very simple: each year, our expenditures increase a little more than our income does.
We all believe in caring for our families and communities and leaving things better for those to come—including opening doors to economic and social mobility. Taxes are a necessary and proper support for the public good. Government does the things that we can’t do for ourselves: building long roads and massive public utility systems, fighting wars and providing national defense, and educating the people who carry our dreams into the future.
We also believe taxes should be paid by those who can afford them, and services delivered to those who need them. Too often we’ve seen taxes drop and loopholes widen for those at the top. The rest of us have needed to stretch our much more limited dollars tighter and see many public services that we depend on cut.
It’s time for change. It’s time for fairness. And we will encourage policymakers to invest in our shared future carefully, intelligently, and sensitively—and so every Marylander benefits. This is our opportunity to fund Maryland’s future.