November 3 gives voters a chance to demand spending discipline, business relief, and an end to the supermajority’s complacency.
There is something galling about being told government needs more of your money by people who rarely seem interested in how hard you worked to earn it.
A Maryland small business owner finishes payroll, pays the rent, checks the insurance renewal. Then hopes there is enough left to replace the equipment that keeps breaking. In Annapolis, another spending announcement gets a podium and applause.
Somebody has to pay for the applause.
With Election Day approaching, Maryland Democrats should have to defend the bills they have already sent us before asking for another four years.
Start with 2025. Governor Wes Moore signed a fiscal 2026 budget package containing more than $1.6 billion in tax and fee increases. The roughly $67 billion, all-funds spending plan was about 1 percent larger than the previous year’s, although its general fund budget was smaller.[1]
Among those changes: a 3 percent sales tax on certain data, information technology, and software publishing services, effective July 1, 2025.[2]
Consider what that means for a small company buying taxable technology services. Money spent on the tax cannot also buy equipment, cover a raise, or help absorb a slow month. Depending on the business, the cost may squeeze its margins or be passed on to customers. Calling it a technology tax does not confine the consequences to some distant Silicon Valley boardroom.
Now, fairness necessitates recognizing that the enacted fiscal 2027 budget imposed no new taxes or fees and reduced general fund spending compared with fiscal 2026. That is welcome. The administration also points to more than $100 million in targeted business tax cuts.[3]
But an election-year pause does not erase the previous year’s increases. Voters are entitled to ask whether restraint will hold up through the campaign.
Spending deserves the same scrutiny. The administration celebrates $10.1 billion in K–12 education funding, more than $370 million above fiscal 2026.[3] Schools need resources. Parents also deserve an explanation of what each additional dollar will accomplish. Announcing a larger appropriation begins that discussion, not its completion.
Then comes the next payroll obligation.
Maryland’s paid family and medical leave program begins collecting contributions in January 2027; benefits begin in January 2028. The initial state-plan rate is 0.9 percent of covered wages, generally divided between employers and employees. Businesses with fewer than 15 employees are exempt from the employer share, but still have collection and reporting responsibilities.[4]
Paid leave serves a real need. Supporters should still acknowledge the money, paperwork, and staffing demands involved. An owner with a handful of employees cannot simply forward every new requirement to a human resources department down the hall.
Sometimes the entire department is the person locking up tonight.
Maryland also has reason to worry about people leaving. Census estimates published by the state show a net domestic migration loss of 12,127 residents between July 2024 and June 2025.[5]
People relocate for jobs, housing, retirement, tax rates, and family. Nor does it show accelerating losses: the previous year’s net domestic loss was larger. We should get the facts right.
Still, a state losing residents to other states should ask how to become more affordable. Adding costs gives people another reason to compare their options.
The deeper problem is political comfort. Democrats hold overwhelming majorities in both legislative chambers.[6] When the votes seem assured, listening can become a courtesy instead of a necessity. Business owners get their allotted testimony; leadership gets its bill. There is no oversight when we have One Party Rule. The only check to the Democrats’ absolute power in Maryland is to vote Republican. Simply Why Not!
Republicans offer a concrete alternative: review the technology tax, set firm deadlines for permit decisions, simplify employer reporting, and require agencies to demonstrate results before expanding programs. Put the savings and tradeoffs on paper. Make the case in terms a household reconciling its checking account can understand.
Maryland needs an opposition strong enough to force those arguments into the open—and strong enough to win some of them.
November 3 is the voters’ chance to change the arithmetic in Annapolis.[7] A supermajority may grow accustomed to getting its way. Taxpayers do not have to grow accustomed to paying whatever it asks.
They can send back the bill.
Endnotes
- Bryan P. Sears, “Moore signs fiscal 2026 budget with tax increases into law in final bill signing.” Maryland Matters, May 21, 2025.
https://marylandmatters.org/2025/05/21/moore-signs-fiscal-2026-budget-with-tax-increases-into-law-in-final-bill-signing/ - Maryland Comptroller, “Maryland Sales and Use Tax Alert.” May 22, 2025.
https://www.marylandcomptroller.gov/legal-library/sut-ta-may-22-2025.html - Office of Governor Wes Moore, “Governor Moore Signs FY 2027 Budget, Delivering Historic Education and Public Safety Investments without Raising Taxes or Fees.”
https://governor.maryland.gov/news/press-releases/governor-moore-signs-fy-2027-budget-delivering-historic-education-and-public-safety-investments - Maryland Department of Labor, Maryland FAMLI, “Make contributions” and “About the program.”
https://paidleave.maryland.gov/employers/make-contributions/
https://paidleave.maryland.gov/about-the-program/ - Maryland Department of Planning, “Table 3B. Domestic Migration for Maryland’s Jurisdictions, April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2025.” U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Vintage 2025.
https://planning.maryland.gov/MSDC/SiteAssets/Census_Estimates/County/County-3B%20Domestic%20Migration.aspx - Maryland State Archives, “Maryland at a Glance: Government.” Legislative composition as of February 2, 2026.
https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/govern.html - Maryland State Board of Elections, “Ballot Questions for the November 3, 2026 Election.”
https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2026/ballot_questions.html
Scott McDonald is a contributing writer for Direct Line News, covering economics, governance, and American political culture.
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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