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We want to discuss taxes at the state level as well as Maryland. Governor Wes Moore yesterday announced a budget plan that includes two billion dollars in spending cuts and tax hikes for those making over five hundred thousand dollars a year, and Governor Moore is joining us now to
discuss Governor, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and radio. The rates we're talking about here six and a quarter percent tax on those making over half a million, at six and a half for over a mill And you've pointed out that some eighty percent of Marylanders will either actually see a tax cut or see no increase at all.
But for those who are going to experience a hike if this plan goes forward, how do you pitch this to them as a democratic governor knowing it might be contrasted with at the federal level, a Republican president pursuing tax cuts.
Yeah, it's great to be at the Kaylee. And you know, and I think about the budget that I introduced really had three north stars that we're focusing on. One is is that we had to prioritize cuts. We have two billion dollars worth of cuts. And I had to be very strategic and very sober about this because the lens I was looking at was that the programs either had to be both effective and efficient and sustainable. If they were not effective and sustainable, they were going to be cut.
So we had to take a really hard lens on that. The second piece was we had to do a better job of modernizing government, and that was getting our systems in place, making sure government is more efficient in the way that we did our work. And that alone is going to cut fifty million dollars and save fifty million dollars to Maryland this year alone. And the third piece
was we had to reform our tax code. And when I talk about reforming the tax code, we now have two thirds of Marylanders are actually going to receive a tax cut. Eighty two percent are either going to receive
a tax cut or no change at all. That we are lowering the corporate tax rate, that we are eliminating the inheritance tax and making it more making easier for businesses to be able to come and grow and stay in Maryland because we're prioritizing things like regulatory form and permitting reform and So this was about growth because the biggest challenge we're facing as a state was that while our budgets grew by seventy percent in the seven years before I became the governor, our GDP grew by three
and so we were spending, but we weren't growing. So by being able to, by being able to focus on these issues, we're able to grow our economy.
Boy, Governor, you know you're on bloomberg when we start a conversation like this. You've been with us since the beginning on balance of power, and it's great to have you back today. And we've watched the tax debate evolve a lot in that period of time, when you go back to twenty seventeen, certainly and now through the Biden administration, and this debate that we're experiencing right now is Donald Trump takes office to extend the twenty seventeen tax cuts.
We're also talking about no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, so many other items, including salt. You have a workaround in your state when it comes to salt. I'm wondering if all of this is designed to get ahead of what's about to happen, and Watchhington.
Well you know, one thing that we know is that what happens in Washington does impact what happens to us on the state level. That you know that Washington is the only place that can print money, but that I know that this year, not only did I introduce a balanced budget for the third year in a row, I plan on passing a bipartisan balanced budget in my state. That where that we know that the work that happens
in Washington does have direct impacts on us. And so as this new administration comes on board, I know that I am prepared to find common ground with this administration. That We've introduced twenty six bills since I've been the governor of the state of Maryland. We have gone twenty six for twenty six, and we've gone twenty six for twenty six bipartisan, with both Democrat and Republican support on every single bill that we have introduced. We know how
to work across the lines. We know how to get things done together, and on places where we can find common ground with this new administration, we will. And on places that we that I you know, we feel that there is a need to push back, we'll do that as well. But we're entering into this new phase in a spirit of partnership.
Well, so as you kind of discuss two dynamics here, being a partner in some sense to an incoming administration and also being a foil to it as a governor of a blue state, which one do you think is going to take greater precedents.
Well, I'm very clear that you know I am not the leader of their resistance. I'm the governor of Maryland. The people elected me to represent the six and a half million people of this state and making sure that their dreams and their aspirations were going to be invested in and supported in, and their freedoms and their rights
were going to be protected. And so we will work with anybody to be able to ensure that Maryland is able to have safer streets and that Maryland can have a growing economy, and that Maryland can have quality infrastructure and the best public schools in America. And you know, it's the same way that you know, before I ever ran for office, I was I was in the business world,
and I was an army officer. And we were very clear when I was at seventeen years old and I joined the army, I learned a fore leave no one behind. And that still is that is still my metric about whether or not I'm doing my job now, even as the governor of Maryland.
You know, we heard Governor Greshen Whitmer from Michigan speaking yesterday about the idea of trying to reach across the aisle find common ground work with this incoming administration. The fact of the matter is governors don't have a choice, right you have something in common with mayors, your executives, and you have to work with the Trump administration. So what's your opening shot, what's your message to Donald Trump to get the ball rolling.
Our message is this is that if you can work with their states and our states executives, I can tell you right now that we'll be able to produce the kind of results that are the people in our states that they hope for. You know, I think about what's happening in the state of Maryland where you know, when I was first elected, Maryland was forty third in the country in unemployment. We're now going on fourteen straight months of amongst the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country.
That when I was an augurated that Maryland had gone eight straight years where we saw eight year period, the homicide rate in Maryland had nearly doubled Baltimore City when eight straight years of three hundred plus homicides. Now, two years into our administration, we've now seen some of the fastest drops in homicides and violent crime anywhere in the
country here in the state of Maryland. And so the message that I really want to have to the new administration is when we're able to work together and we're able to have partnership, the partnership produces progress, and I think it's progress that the American people that they hoped for, that they voted for, and that they expect from leaders who are sitting in these seats.
Governor, we just have a minute left. But obviously Baltimore experienced a disaster last year with the collapse of the Key Bridge. Federal funding for that finally came through at the end of last year. I'm sure you're well aware there is now a conversation about putting conditions around aid for California as at grapples with the aftermath of fires. What would you say to those who are advocating for conditions on aid.
You know, I'm never going to forget that first morning of when the key Bridge collapsed, and when I saw thirteen percent of my economy shut down, you know, when I had six Marylanders we lost, and was trying to console those families. And the thing that I wanted to do that morning, that we continue to do was center on humanity and center on working together. That every single one of our press conferences that we had, every single day,
we were with the mayor. We were with our federal leaders, the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Army, Corps of Engineers, our federal delegation, Democrats and Republicans. We were with everybody united. And in these times of tragedy, what people are hoping for is that we can have a sense of unity in the way that we recover and in the way that we rebuild. And so I would urge as California, and I know I reached out to Gavin and the
folks California that first morning. The thing that I would hope for them is that everybody who especially has to vote on this, go to California and see it for yourself, see the York see the need, and then go out and make the right decisions on behalf of the people.
It's great to have you back Governor. That's Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland.
Thank you.
Let's stay close as this new year unfolds.