Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, and.
Speaker 2: We want to discuss taxes at the state level as
Speaker 2: well as Maryland. Governor Wes Moore yesterday announced a budget
Speaker 2: plan that includes two billion dollars in spending cuts and
Speaker 2: tax hikes for those making over five hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 2: a year, and Governor Moore is joining us now to
Speaker 2: discuss Governor, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and radio. The
Speaker 2: rates we're talking about here six and a quarter percent
Speaker 2: tax on those making over half a million, at six
Speaker 2: and a half for over a mill And you've pointed
Speaker 2: out that some eighty percent of Marylanders will either actually
Speaker 2: see a tax cut or see no increase at all.
Speaker 2: But for those who are going to experience a hike
Speaker 2: if this plan goes forward, how do you pitch this
Speaker 2: to them as a democratic governor knowing it might be
Speaker 2: contrasted with at the federal level, a Republican president pursuing
Speaker 2: tax cuts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great to be at the Kaylee. And you know,
Speaker 1: and I think about the budget that I introduced really
Speaker 1: had three north stars that we're focusing on. One is
Speaker 1: is that we had to prioritize cuts. We have two
Speaker 1: billion dollars worth of cuts. And I had to be
Speaker 1: very strategic and very sober about this because the lens
Speaker 1: I was looking at was that the programs either had
Speaker 1: to be both effective and efficient and sustainable. If they
Speaker 1: were not effective and sustainable, they were going to be cut.
Speaker 1: So we had to take a really hard lens on that.
Speaker 1: The second piece was we had to do a better
Speaker 1: job of modernizing government, and that was getting our systems
Speaker 1: in place, making sure government is more efficient in the
Speaker 1: way that we did our work. And that alone is
Speaker 1: going to cut fifty million dollars and save fifty million
Speaker 1: dollars to Maryland this year alone. And the third piece
Speaker 1: was we had to reform our tax code. And when
Speaker 1: I talk about reforming the tax code, we now have
Speaker 1: two thirds of Marylanders are actually going to receive a
Speaker 1: tax cut. Eighty two percent are either going to receive
Speaker 1: a tax cut or no change at all. That we
Speaker 1: are lowering the corporate tax rate, that we are eliminating
Speaker 1: the inheritance tax and making it more making easier for
Speaker 1: businesses to be able to come and grow and stay
Speaker 1: in Maryland because we're prioritizing things like regulatory form and
Speaker 1: permitting reform and So this was about growth because the
Speaker 1: biggest challenge we're facing as a state was that while
Speaker 1: our budgets grew by seventy percent in the seven years
Speaker 1: before I became the governor, our GDP grew by three
Speaker 1: and so we were spending, but we weren't growing. So
Speaker 1: by being able to, by being able to focus on
Speaker 1: these issues, we're able to grow our economy.
Speaker 3: Boy, Governor, you know you're on bloomberg when we start
Speaker 3: a conversation like this. You've been with us since the
Speaker 3: beginning on balance of power, and it's great to have
Speaker 3: you back today. And we've watched the tax debate evolve
Speaker 3: a lot in that period of time, when you go
Speaker 3: back to twenty seventeen, certainly and now through the Biden administration,
Speaker 3: and this debate that we're experiencing right now is Donald
Speaker 3: Trump takes office to extend the twenty seventeen tax cuts.
Speaker 3: We're also talking about no tax on tips, no tax
Speaker 3: on overtime, so many other items, including salt. You have
Speaker 3: a workaround in your state when it comes to salt.
Speaker 3: I'm wondering if all of this is designed to get
Speaker 3: ahead of what's about to happen, and Watchhington.
Speaker 1: Well you know, one thing that we know is that
Speaker 1: what happens in Washington does impact what happens to us
Speaker 1: on the state level. That you know that Washington is
Speaker 1: the only place that can print money, but that I
Speaker 1: know that this year, not only did I introduce a
Speaker 1: balanced budget for the third year in a row, I
Speaker 1: plan on passing a bipartisan balanced budget in my state.
Speaker 1: That where that we know that the work that happens
Speaker 1: in Washington does have direct impacts on us. And so
Speaker 1: as this new administration comes on board, I know that
Speaker 1: I am prepared to find common ground with this administration.
Speaker 1: That We've introduced twenty six bills since I've been the
Speaker 1: governor of the state of Maryland. We have gone twenty
Speaker 1: six for twenty six, and we've gone twenty six for
Speaker 1: twenty six bipartisan, with both Democrat and Republican support on
Speaker 1: every single bill that we have introduced. We know how
Speaker 1: to work across the lines. We know how to get
Speaker 1: things done together, and on places where we can find
Speaker 1: common ground with this new administration, we will. And on
Speaker 1: places that we that I you know, we feel that
Speaker 1: there is a need to push back, we'll do that
Speaker 1: as well. But we're entering into this new phase in
Speaker 1: a spirit of partnership.
Speaker 2: Well, so as you kind of discuss two dynamics here,
Speaker 2: being a partner in some sense to an incoming administration
Speaker 2: and also being a foil to it as a governor
Speaker 2: of a blue state, which one do you think is
Speaker 2: going to take greater precedents.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm very clear that you know I am not
Speaker 1: the leader of their resistance. I'm the governor of Maryland.
Speaker 1: The people elected me to represent the six and a
Speaker 1: half million people of this state and making sure that
Speaker 1: their dreams and their aspirations were going to be invested
Speaker 1: in and supported in, and their freedoms and their rights
Speaker 1: were going to be protected. And so we will work
Speaker 1: with anybody to be able to ensure that Maryland is
Speaker 1: able to have safer streets and that Maryland can have
Speaker 1: a growing economy, and that Maryland can have quality infrastructure
Speaker 1: and the best public schools in America. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's the same way that you know, before I ever
Speaker 1: ran for office, I was I was in the business world,
Speaker 1: and I was an army officer. And we were very
Speaker 1: clear when I was at seventeen years old and I
Speaker 1: joined the army, I learned a fore leave no one behind.
Speaker 1: And that still is that is still my metric about
Speaker 1: whether or not I'm doing my job now, even as
Speaker 1: the governor of Maryland.
Speaker 3: You know, we heard Governor Greshen Whitmer from Michigan speaking
Speaker 3: yesterday about the idea of trying to reach across the
Speaker 3: aisle find common ground work with this incoming administration. The
Speaker 3: fact of the matter is governors don't have a choice,
Speaker 3: right you have something in common with mayors, your executives,
Speaker 3: and you have to work with the Trump administration. So
Speaker 3: what's your opening shot, what's your message to Donald Trump
Speaker 3: to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 1: Our message is this is that if you can work
Speaker 1: with their states and our states executives, I can tell
Speaker 1: you right now that we'll be able to produce the
Speaker 1: kind of results that are the people in our states
Speaker 1: that they hope for. You know, I think about what's
Speaker 1: happening in the state of Maryland where you know, when
Speaker 1: I was first elected, Maryland was forty third in the
Speaker 1: country in unemployment. We're now going on fourteen straight months
Speaker 1: of amongst the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country.
Speaker 1: That when I was an augurated that Maryland had gone
Speaker 1: eight straight years where we saw eight year period, the
Speaker 1: homicide rate in Maryland had nearly doubled Baltimore City when
Speaker 1: eight straight years of three hundred plus homicides. Now, two
Speaker 1: years into our administration, we've now seen some of the
Speaker 1: fastest drops in homicides and violent crime anywhere in the
Speaker 1: country here in the state of Maryland. And so the
Speaker 1: message that I really want to have to the new
Speaker 1: administration is when we're able to work together and we're
Speaker 1: able to have partnership, the partnership produces progress, and I
Speaker 1: think it's progress that the American people that they hoped for,
Speaker 1: that they voted for, and that they expect from leaders
Speaker 1: who are sitting in these seats.
Speaker 2: Governor, we just have a minute left. But obviously Baltimore
Speaker 2: experienced a disaster last year with the collapse of the
Speaker 2: Key Bridge. Federal funding for that finally came through at
Speaker 2: the end of last year. I'm sure you're well aware
Speaker 2: there is now a conversation about putting conditions around aid
Speaker 2: for California as at grapples with the aftermath of fires.
Speaker 2: What would you say to those who are advocating for
Speaker 2: conditions on aid.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm never going to forget that first morning
Speaker 1: of when the key Bridge collapsed, and when I saw
Speaker 1: thirteen percent of my economy shut down, you know, when
Speaker 1: I had six Marylanders we lost, and was trying to
Speaker 1: console those families. And the thing that I wanted to
Speaker 1: do that morning, that we continue to do was center
Speaker 1: on humanity and center on working together. That every single
Speaker 1: one of our press conferences that we had, every single day,
Speaker 1: we were with the mayor. We were with our federal leaders,
Speaker 1: the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Army, Corps of Engineers,
Speaker 1: our federal delegation, Democrats and Republicans. We were with everybody united.
Speaker 1: And in these times of tragedy, what people are hoping
Speaker 1: for is that we can have a sense of unity
Speaker 1: in the way that we recover and in the way
Speaker 1: that we rebuild. And so I would urge as California,
Speaker 1: and I know I reached out to Gavin and the
Speaker 1: folks California that first morning. The thing that I would
Speaker 1: hope for them is that everybody who especially has to
Speaker 1: vote on this, go to California and see it for yourself,
Speaker 1: see the York see the need, and then go out
Speaker 1: and make the right decisions on behalf of the people.
Speaker 3: It's great to have you back Governor. That's Wes Moore,
Speaker 3: the governor of Maryland.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Let's stay close as this new year unfolds.