Maryland’s Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, spent a lot of time and effort reassuring hard-working Maryland families that he had a “very high bar” for tax increases. Then the governor had to submit his Fiscal Year 2026 budget and his very high bar became a scuff mark on the floor of the State House left there by lobbyists for government employee unions, the teachers unions and special interest groups who advocate loudly for environmental policies whose relationship with the reality of daily life is tenuous.

Moore himself, on Jan. 20, 2023, said he was crafting his budget proposal in a “fortunate financial position.” Ignoring the sage advice of people in his own party with experience in state government, Moore was unable to find the “no” button on his desk.

Moore’s inability to say no to special interest groups such as government employee unions and teachers unions combined with the insatiable appetite of legislators to subsidize questionable projects and “community” groups in their districts fueled by a governing philosophy of cradle-to-grave government involvement in your life has turned a $5 billion surplus into a $3 billion deficit in a mere two years. This is the unavoidable result of the governing class that rules Annapolis, for whom long-term planning is 90 days.

How else can these same people explain to hard-working Maryland families that they committed taxpayers to spending $30 billion over 10 years on a series of education efforts whose ultimate effect is questionable. For the record, $30 billion is approximately one-third more than Maryland’s current annual operating budget to run state agencies and programs.

Where is this additional $30 billion going to come from?

These same legislators who voted for it, over former Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto, have not quite got around to discussing that yet. FanDuel says bet the over on tax increases. The logic of Moore’s proposed tax increases defies history and his own espoused policy goals. The new and increased tax brackets for high-income earners is unlikely to produce the revenue the governor claims.

In 2008, then-Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, instituted a higher tax rate for incomes over $1 million. The result was fewer people filing returns at those income levels and the state collecting less revenue from taxpayers in those brackets.

Note to Gov. Moore: Money walks and it especially walks when your new and increased tax rates are coupled with a local income tax, a 6% sales tax and an increase in the capital gains tax rate. Additionally, Moore is pushing for a 75-cent charge on every delivery made in Maryland, including those from DoorDash, FedEx and Amazon. Your Prime membership may say delivery is free, but Moore says not if he can help it.

Taxing deliveries will encourage people to run errands for themselves and thus put more cars on the road in direct contradiction to the holy grail of liberal environmental policy.Moore’s proposed delivery fee is indexed for inflation just as the Maryland gas tax currently is.

This means that the delivery tax will increase every year without a single state legislator voting to increase the delivery tax and, importantly, with no need for the governor’s signature. In an op-ed last month for The Baltimore Sun, Colin Pascal wrote that Moore was bringing Washington-style blame game finger-pointing to Annapolis. All Marylanders should be concerned, and saddened, that with each passing day Gov. Moore proves Pascal to be correct.

Kevin Igoe was chief of staff of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management from 2015 to 2023. He has worked on Capitol Hill and was an adviser to the Housing Commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is the former deputy chief of staff of the Republican National Committee and former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party.