Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is defending the state budget that’s moving forward with tax increases as “deeply responsible,” and brushing off Republican concerns that it’s bad for business.

Speaking to reporters in the State House on Thursday, the Democratic governor said the budget combines significant spending cuts with targeted tax increases.

“This is a deeply responsible budget that we’ve landed on, and one that we think that the people of the state will appreciate,” Moore said. He repeated his claim that 94% of Marylanders will see no change or a modest cut to their income taxes.

But the budget does raise $1.6 billion in taxes and fees that will hit some Marylanders and affect businesses. High-earning Marylanders will pay more taxes on their income and their capital gains; information technology and data services will be taxed for the first time at 3%; and certain corporations will have to calculate their taxes differently — and pay more.

Further down the list of taxes, Marylanders will have to pay the 6% sales tax when they buy food and drinks from vending machines; the excise tax on car sales will go up to 6.8% from 6%; and the tax on cannabis will rise to 12% from 9%. Maryland’s counties and Baltimore will have the option to raise their local income tax rate, too.

That’s led Republicans and business leaders to question whether the budget will help or hinder Moore’s goal of boosting the state’s economy and making it less reliant on federal government jobs and contracting.

Asked to respond to those claims, Moore said: “My response is: This is a very deeply fiscally responsible budget that actually has the largest amount of cuts in Maryland’s budget in 16 years, that this is a budget that’s actually focusing on industries of growth and, by the way, we are not doing it on the backs of middle-class families.”

Moore said businesses and entrepreneurs should be heartened by his administration’s efforts to attract life sciences, tech and aerospace industries to the state, as well as forthcoming reforms to regulations and permits.

Creating the 3% tax on IT and data services represents a modernization of the tax code, Moore said, “because the way Marylanders purchase is more based on services than it is on goods.”

Moore had strong words for Calvert County Republican Del. Mark Fisher, who said businesses should, in fact, leave the state before they get taxed any further.

“Don’t move into Maryland, and if you have a small business or a medium-sized business, get out of Maryland now,” Fisher said before voting against the budget bills on Wednesday. “The Democrat Party sees you as an ATM machine, and they will never stop until such time as they have the perfect socialist government that will then collapse upon itself, because there is no revenue left.”

Moore said Fisher’s comments were “embarrassing and disappointing” and warrant an apology to Calvert County residents and Marylanders.

“This is what people hate about politics, that you’re willing to root against your hometown for political purposes? For clickbait?” Moore said. “I just think it’s embarrassing for him.”

Fisher responded by doubling down on his position in a social media video, saying: “Wes Moore does not want to take care of the issue at hand, which is: Small businesses want to leave the state of Maryland and so do medium-sized businesses. And why do they want to move? Because Wes Moore is raising taxes again on job creators.”

The House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved two key budget bills largely along party lines on Wednesday, and the full Senate will start taking the bills up on Friday.

The Senate is making some tweaks to the plan that both chambers would need to iron out before they adjourn at midnight on April 7.