Marylanders may still be smarting over the tax increases Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democrat-controlled legislature approved in 2007, particularly since the budget balancing they achieved proved short lived once the global economy spiraled out of control. But Marylanders can take some comfort in the fact that as the state grapples with new fiscal problems, more tax increases are politically off the table, at least until after the 2010 election - and perhaps for some time after that.
Mr. O'Malley and the other members of the Board of Public Works will probably have to enact more cuts to the current budget, and he and the legislators probably won't be able to avoid cutting even more from the spending plan they'll adopt next spring, just before they head out for re-election - exactly the opposite of what politicians like to do. There is a chance that the state could dip into its rainy day fund, particularly if the state's slot machine gambling program gets off the ground in the next few months; the promise of that new revenue would reassure bond rating agencies that the state's savings could be replenished. But increase taxes in an election year? Not likely.
