Marylanders are currently burdened by the fourth highest tax burden nationally, with 10.8% of their incomes going to the government annually in state and local taxes. However, there are still those who believe there is more that can be squeezed out of Maryland taxpayers' wallets, and these people are going after the one thing that has for years helped over-burdened taxpayers ease the pain of having their incomes looted from them, alcohol. The Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative is a collection of such people who are attempting to get candidates for the General Assembly to pledge to raise alcohol taxes by 10 cents if they are elected. Clearly, their name does not refer to economic health.
The truth is this increase would force an overburdened industry to raise prices on an overburdened tax base. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) reports that in 2009, a typical 750 ml bottle of 80 proof distilled spirits cost $14.13, $7.81 of which went to federal, state, and local taxes. That equals a tax of 55%. Additionally, Maryland taxpayers have seen $1.45 in tax increases in 2008 and 2009 alone, the 11th highest in the nation. It looks as if legislators in the Old Line State are addicted to taxing more and more to finance their sky-high spending.
It is time Maryland lawmakers devise a way of slimming the expenditures side of the ledger rather than inflating the revenues side. The state spent more money in FY2008 than 32 of the states and the FY2011 budget left a $2 billion deficit in their future. The most effective way to decrease these numbers is to stimulate the economy with spending cuts followed by tax relief instead of punitive selective excise tax increases. It's a sad state of affairs when you see legislators turning to taxes to solve all their problems, or at least put them off for another year. I just hope it's not too late to kick the habit.