You know that “Game of Thrones” harbinger that “Winter is coming”? Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan is beginning to sound a little like that.
The Washington Post reports that Hogan issued a warning Tuesday that his exclusive focus upon taking office will be controlling state spending, and that will come initially through budget cuts, not tax cuts.
“People are going to have to brace. We’re not going to be able to pay for every single program that everybody wants or every program that we’d like to have,” Hogan said in a Tuesday news conference, where he also announced some staff appointments. “We’re in very tight fiscal constraints right now, and we’re going to make very tough decisions, which is what the voters elected me to do.”
Maryland is facing a tax revenue shortfall and is expected to collect $1.2 billion less than projected in tax revenue for the period which ends in June 2016. Hogan, who takes office Jan. 21, is determined not to raise taxes. No new taxes means the money has to come from somewhere, and that means likely budget cuts.
