Neil Bergsman from the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute joins us to discuss Maryland's budget and it's impact on Marylanders. read more ...

“We ought to be proud” of the state’s reliance on the income tax, said Neil Bergsman of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute...“The main reasons that Maryland ranks so high on income tax reliance is because we allow local governments to share in the income tax,” Bergsman said...“This is also a fairer system,” Bergsman said.

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“For folks in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, it’s going to be in the neighborhood of a buck a week,” said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute. “The amount we’re talking about should be manageable for everyone. It’s not going to affect the lifestyles of any millionaire or half-millionaire in Maryland.”...
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Kai Jackson spoke with Neil Bergsman, Amy Boulware and Heather Wojcik and Rev. Tracey Victor-Butler. read more ...

“This is really unchartered territory for Maryland,” said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute. “Certainly there are a lot of side issues still in play. I hope the legislature will have the discipline to come in, fix the budget and leave the ancillary issues for a later time.” read more ...

Neil Bergsman of Maryland’s Money Matters says the need to fix the budget is more urgent than the recent doomsday clock issued by the Save Our State coalition since most local governments now have less than 40 days to get their own budgets in order. read more ...

“Maryland’s problem is very bad, but compared to the other states we’re [well-off],” said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute. “We may be in a better position to grow and prosper when the recovery does arrive than a lot of these other states.

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The Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute is urging legislators to return for a special session. It then offers a nifty calendar of events it deems are important for the upcoming week. read more ...

The board plans to study workforce issues, including the qualifications, training and management of staff, said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute and the panel's chairman.  read more ...

However, Neil Bergsman, director of the nonprofit Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, said lawmakers should focus only on fixing the state budget during a special session. His group called the failure of the budget bills on Monday night a “train wreck” that was caused by lawmakers considering too many measures at once.

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“Without delay, the Governor, House Speaker, and Senate President should agree to a Special Session devoted exclusively to completing their work on the budget and revenues so Maryland can maintain crucial investments that create jobs and build a strong economy,” said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute, in a statement. read more ...

“The full effect of the recession is starting to hit the county budgets now, even when other indicators are starting to stabilize a little bit,” said Neil Bergsman, director of the nonprofit Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute. read more ...

The House's budget goes easier on Maryland taxpayers than the Senate plan this year, according to Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute, but that won't help residents in coming years. "They know whatever they don't do to balance the budget this year they have to do next year," Bergsman said. "It's more a matter of when they have to swallow hard than whether they have to swallow hard."

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The House budget may close the state's budget deficit this year, but it doesn't consider the long-term consequences of the state's weakening finances, according to Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute.

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This morning, Sheilah talks with Gabriel Michael of the Maryland Public Policy Institute and Neil Bergsman of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute about budget proposals currently working their way through the General Assembly. read more ...

The committee's tax plan costs the median Maryland household $41 a year — less than a buck a week. Even at the upper reaches of high income taxpayers, it's well under one-fifth of 1 percent of income. An expansion of the earned income credit protects low-income working families with kids. read more ...

Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, called the income tax bill a “clever compromise...I think this comes from the Senate’s desire to accomplish two different goals,” Bergsman said. “One is to get more revenue from the top percent of tax returns. The other is to try to make sure the state’s top rate, including the local tax, doesn’t go above 9 percent.”

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Neil Bergsman, former director of the state’s capital budget office, said he expected this year’s bond bill funding to be “extraordinarily tight” because projects that would have qualified for other grants, such as Program Open Space, in previous years are now competing for bond bill funding because of state budget cuts.

“There are a lot of requests and only a little money to go around,” said Bergsman, now director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute.

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The Maryland General Assembly is grappling with ways to raise revenues and avoid doomsday budget scenarios, entertaining ideas that were hardly part of the conversation a few short months ago. They may increase the levy on individual taxpayers across the income spectrum. They may add to the sales tax. Large gas and flush tax hikes are on the table. But legislators need to put one more possibility at the top of the list: a fairer corporate tax structure. read more ...

Neil Bergsman of the Maryland Tax and Budget Policy Institute argued that expansion of the sales tax to services considered to be non-necessities was a revenue generator worth pursuing.

“The biggest erosion of our tax base over the last decades has been the failure of the sales tax to apply for services,” Bergsman said.

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Neil Bergsman, of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, said that in the next two weeks, details about the budget would be hashed out and a new proposal created in the General Assembly. Therefore, he said, the time was right for constituents to chime in with their thoughts.

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Henry Bogdan of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute advised that county officials who want to oppose the shift should also talk about being willing to “help the government raise money for the general fund,” but he said that he isn’t hearing that sentiment from the opponents of Gov. O’Malley’s proposal...While there may be few popular revenue raising options, Bogdan’s advice is on the mark.

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"I'm sure that the county executive's position on a bill is always a significant consideration for a county legislative delegation," said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute. "Not always decisive, but certainly important." read more ...

Kai Jackson spoke with Neil Bergsman, Shirley Basfield Dunlap and Roscoe Orman and Shantrelle P. Lewis and Dr. Michelle Wilkinson. read more ...

Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, disagreed, calling the overall budget proposal fair, because it’s based on taxpayers’ ability to pay.

“This is about the most balanced and moderate proposal we’ve seen for helping to fix the deficit in the last five years,” he said.

“It’s important to have an approach to balancing the budget that includes some revenues because we have to keep our investments in education and quality of life. That’s Maryland’s edge.”

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To preserve Maryland's quality of life, it's time to 'eat our vegetables' and accept revenue increases along with cuts, writes MBTPI Director Neil Bergsman in today's Baltimore Sun.

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A day ahead of Governor O’Malley’s State of the State address, a discussion of the fiscal policy behind his controversial budget and tax increase proposals. With Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute, and Ron Wineholt, vice-president for government affairs for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. read more ...

MarylandReporter.com editor and publisher Len Lazarick talks about Gov. Martin O’Malley’s 2013 budget proposal with state Sen. David Brinkley, the ranking minority member on the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute.

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Neil Bergsman, director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute, said some states are seeing double-digit increases in their public college tuition.

"I think when we had the tuition freeze everyone understood that it couldn't possibly last forever," Bergsman said. "A larger [tuition] increase this year would not have surprised me."

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The Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank that has been pushing for months for the governor to incorporate tax increases in his budget-balancing plan, was tepid about a sales tax increase for that very reason. Such an increase, it noted, "would affect low- and moderate-income working families disproportionately" and would need to be paired with an increase in the earned income tax credit or other measures to help offset its regressive effects. But the group would prefer other revenue options, such as a resumption of the millionaires tax and reform to the corporate tax to make sure multi-state companies actually pay their fair share. read more ...

Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute Director Neil Bergsman said that the state needs to stop balancing budget shortfalls through cuts – but not just because state employees deserve to be paid a living wage, “but because Maryland’s competitive edge calls for a strong workforce, strong schools, and quality infrastructure.” read more ...