Gov. Wes Moore continued to trickle out details of his plan to close Maryland’s $3 billion budget gap, saying Tuesday that at least some people would pay more taxes.

Moore wrote that he will ask “Marylanders who have done exceptionally well financially to contribute a little more so we can make targeted and data-driven investments in economic growth.”

Moore did not offer details of the tax hike, including who would pay more and by how much. But he said the increase would be coupled with tax cuts for two-thirds of Marylanders and a cut in the corporate tax rate.

He also said there would be no increases to the sales tax or the state’s portion of property taxes.

After dropping those broad proposals in a guest column in The Baltimore Sun in the morning, the governor spent the day declining to offer more specifics. His full budget proposal is due tomorrow.

“I know that both my bar for taxes is very high and continues to remain so, and I also know that taxes are a tactic. They’re not an ideology,” Moore said at an event in Annapolis hosted by The Baltimore Banner.

Speaking to reporters later in the day in College Park, Moore was asked how he defines “Marylanders who have done exceptionally well” and how much they would pay. Moore declined to offer details, though he did acknowledge that the group “includes people like myself who’ve done very, very well.”

“We need to have a tax code that makes taxes simpler, fairer, and for the vast majority of Marylanders, lower,” he said.

[This article first appeared in The Banner’s live blog about the General Assembly.]

When it comes to the budget, the biggest challenge he faces is closing the gap between incoming revenue and planned spending, which is projected to be $3 billion. Lawmakers — and Marylanders — have been waiting to see how he will bring the budget in balance, through spending cuts, tax increases or a little bit of both.

Last week, as state lawmakers returned to Annapolis, Moore said he would propose $2 billion in cuts to planned spending, though he offered almost no details. He said Tuesday that cuts aren’t the only part of the budget-balancing equation.

“Anyone who thinks that you can just cut your way to prosperity is not being serious. ... But anyone who also thinks you can just tax your way to prosperity is not being serious, either,” Moore said.

Moore didn’t directly answer questions about whether he’ll use money from the Rainy Day Fund to balance the budget.

The governor said it’s important to maintain a “healthy balance” in the Rainy Day Fund. “If people are thinking that this is going to be a moment to raid the Rainy Day Fund, they are sorely mistaken,” he said.

A key driver of the long-term projected budget deficit is the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, an ambitious and expensive plan to improve public schools. There’s enough money in the Blueprint’s fund to pay for planned programs for the next two years, so it doesn’t contribute to the immediate budget problem. But it’s on the minds of Moore and lawmakers as they look ahead.

Moore said quality public education can spur economic growth. He said he believes in many of the tenets of the Blueprint, such as expanding preschool options and improving career- and college-readiness programs.

“Any idea that we’re somehow going to eliminate the Blueprint, I just want to be very clear: not on my watch,” he said, acknowledging that “adjustments” to the plan are both necessary and smart. He’s already proposed delaying a plan to have teachers spend more time out of the classroom working on planning and professional development, because that requires hiring more teachers at a time when there is a teacher shortage.

Budget proposal as a ‘starting point’

Senate President Bill Ferguson said he appreciates what he’s heard so far from the governor about the government living within its means and improving efficiency.

“I think this is a starting point,” Ferguson said, noting that even after Moore unveils his full budget on Wednesday, more changes could be coming with President-elect Donald Trump being sworn in next week. Trump has pledged massive spending cuts and targeted federal government employees, who make up a meaningful portion of Maryland’s population.

“This is going to be a very dynamic session where we are really trying to lead with our values,” said Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat.

Sen. Guy Guzzone, a Democrat who chairs the Senate’s budgeting committee, said state government has not been immune to inflation. Costs are going up for salaries and goods the government buys, and the cost of providing services such as Medicaid health insurance and child care subsidies have skyrocketed.

“There are a bunch of places within the budget where we made real commitments to try to make things better and deal with inflation and it’s hard to imagine not living up to those responsibilities,” Guzzone said at The Banner’s event.

Sen. Stephen Hershey, the Senate’s Republican leader, said now is a time to reassess how the government is spending its money.

“One of the things that we have said from the Republicans caucus throughout the process is we have to be very cognizant of the policies that we’re passing and what the actual costs of them are,” Hershey said.

Additionally, he said that in the budget negotiations there is “absolutely no way” that Republicans would support “any type of tax increases.” Hershey said the last time that taxes were raised on high earners, those who were able to left Maryland for states with better tax climates.

While there was plenty of talk of taxes and cuts in Annapolis on Tuesday, Moore pushed another part of his forthcoming policy agenda, a pledge to make targeted investments to spur growth in industries like life sciences, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

“I think the piece of news is the growth agenda, that Maryland finally has a growth agenda,” Moore said. He noted that the state’s budget has grown over the last several years, but economic activity — which results in taxes to the state — hasn’t kept pace.

Not the resistance

The uncertainty of the incoming Trump administration weighs on Moore, who acknowledged that hopes of building a Red Line east-west transit route in Baltimore and to constructing a new FBI headquarters in Prince George’s County have dimmed.

“I know elections have consequences,” Moore said.

On the Red Line specifically, Moore said that “the first Trump administration had a very different posture when it came to infrastructure and mass transit” compared to the Biden administration.

Moore said he would “fight like hell” to keep the FBI project on track. But he also said that he’d work with the Trump administration in any place where they can find common ground.

“I’m not the leader of the resistance,” Moore said. “I’m the governor of Maryland, and I’m going to fight for Maryland. And that has been my posture that I will work with anybody, including the incoming administration, in order to make sure that Maryland’s hopes and Maryland’s dreams can be supported and lifted up and protected.”