Maryland advocates push $1.6B plan to tax the rich, corporations to fix state budget

Envisioning a not-so-distant future when public school budgets are on the chopping block and essential workers like probation officers lack the resources to do their jobs, a handful of state lawmakers and a coalition of advocates on Monday introduced a plan they say would raise $1.6 billion to plug a significant impending state budget hole. The new revenue — which would come mostly from expanded taxes on households earning more than $250,000 and on corporations — is designed to offset a multi-billion-dollar projected budget deficit that has so far dominated conversations in Annapolis during the annual 90-day legislative session, which began Jan. 10.