Wes Moore is campaigning against personalized grocery pricing, even as Marylanders pay higher taxes, fees, and electricity bills.

Wes Moore has a grocery-store commercial. Maryland families have higher bills and a few questions about his definition of affordability.

Good job, Governor. You have found a grocery-store villain, passed a law, and booked the commercial. Now let’s bring some reality to your commercial: this isn’t happening in Maryland!  Also, if MDOT can do dynamic toll rates, would it be so bad if things cost more at times of day, just asking for a friend?   Now, about the villains already helping themselves to the family checking account.

Wes Moore’s new advertisement promises to protect shoppers from businesses using personal information to charge different people different prices. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants a supermarket deciding that your desperation for milk entitles it to another dollar.  No supermarket in Maryland is doing this!

But FOX45’s report has an awkward detail: retail-industry representatives say Maryland grocers are not doing what the governor’s advertisement warns about. They supported the final legislation while disputing the suggestion that this is an existing practice here.

That deserves an answer before the victory parade reaches the frozen-food aisle.

Maryland’s Protection From Predatory Pricing Act takes effect October 1. It restricts personalized price increases while preserving exceptions for loyalty programs, promotions, and legitimate cost differences.[1] A precaution can be sensible. Selling that precaution as an affordability achievement requires another step: showing what families actually save.   That said, we need to return to reality.  Wes Moore pushed for a law that wasn’t a problem.

Meanwhile, Marylanders can produce receipts for what Annapolis has added.

How many taxes and fees have gone up, Governor? Start with ten major categories in the 2025 package alone: technology services, higher-income tax brackets, capital gains, cannabis, mobile sports wagering, vending-machine purchases, vehicle excise taxes, vehicle titles, accelerated registration-fee increases, and new tires.[2] mgaleg.maryland.gov

That counts categories from one year’s package, not a complete tally for Moore’s term. Each affects different people. We do not need an inflated number to make an expensive point.

The fiscal 2026 budget package Moore signed in 2025 included more than $1.6 billion in taxes and fees, according to Maryland Matters.[3] That is a substantial collection effort for an administration now auditioning as the guardian of everybody’s grocery money. Maryland Matters

Meanwhile, back in the real world, let’s consider the tires on the car carrying those groceries home. Beginning January 2026, Maryland added a $5 fee per new tire and raised the existing recycling fee from 80 cents to $1.[4] Four tires bring $20 in new-tire fees, plus the higher recycling charge.  This adds to the affordability problem; it doesn’t solve affordability, it compounds the problem.. marylandcomptroller.gov

Apparently, the state would like a little something for every revolution of the wheel.

The vehicle title fee for a new or used car doubled from $100 to $200.[2] That extra hundred dollars could have bought groceries. Annapolis got there first. mgaleg.maryland.gov

Then there is electricity, which remains stubbornly unmoved by campaign advertising.

Maryland’s Office of People’s Counsel reports that BGE’s electricity supply cost was about 12.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in summer 2026, compared with about 10.2 cents the previous summer.[5] That is roughly a 23 percent increase in the supply component, not the entire bill. At 900 kilowatt-hours, the difference alone is about $20.70 a month. opc.maryland.gov

Try paying that with a promise about a hypothetical checkout surcharge.

Electricity costs stem from several factors, including regional capacity markets, data-center demand, utility infrastructure spending, and weather. Moore does not set every charge personally.[5] But a governor making affordability his campaign theme should expect questions about the bills arriving now and the policies that might bring lasting relief. opc.maryland.gov

His administration says the fiscal 2027 budget contains no new taxes or fees.[6] Good. Maryland needed a breather. A year without another increase doesn’t remove the charges already on the books. The Office of Governor Wes Moore

A family budget has no column labeled “The governor meant well.” The word to hell isn;t just paved with good intentions; it is also paved with stupid ideas come up by democrats.  It has rent, utilities, transportation, groceries, and whatever remains after the automatic payments clear. The due dates arrive whether the commercial airs or not.

Republicans should keep the argument there. Demand a public accounting of added taxes and fees. Review spending before asking taxpayers for another dollar. Press for reliable electricity supply and scrutiny of utility costs. Ask the administration to document the grocery-pricing abuses it says require attention and the savings its law is expected to deliver.

Protect shoppers from dishonest businesses, certainly. Then apply the same seriousness to government’s own demands on their wallets.

Governor, you have the grocery-store commercial. Marylanders have the receipts.

For your next advertisement, show us a bill you made smaller.

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Endnotes

1. Maryland General Assembly, “Protection From Predatory Pricing Act,” HB 895, Chapter 154 (2026). Enacted provisions, exceptions, and effective date.
   https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/chapters_noln/Ch_154_hb0895E.pdf
2. Maryland Department of Legislative Services, “Effect of the 2025 Legislative Program on the Financial Condition of the State.” Printed pages 20–25 document the tax and transportation-fee changes. The ten-category count is a limited grouping of these measures, not an official cumulative total.
   https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/Pubs/BudgetFiscal/2025rs-fiscal-effects.pdf
3. 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/
4. Comptroller of Maryland, “Technical Bulletin No. 61: Tire Fees,” December 19, 2025.
   https://www.marylandcomptroller.gov/legal-library/tb-61-dec-19-2025.html
5. Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, “Why is my summer BGE bill so high?” (2026). The percentage and monthly-dollar comparisons are calculations using the agency’s approximate supply rates.
   https://opc.maryland.gov/Why-is-my-2026-summer-BGE-bill-so-high
6. 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

Eric Williams writes on energy, fiscal policy, and state administration for Direct Line News.

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