ANNAPOLIS — Maryland lawmakers resumed talks on the state budget Monday but remain bitterly divided over income tax exemptions for the state’s lowest-earning residents.
With just hours left to hammer out a compromise before the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn at midnight, the impasse has heightened concerns of an extended session — it would be the first time in two decades that lawmakers failed to reach a budget deal on time.
House and Senate negotiations stalled Saturday when the delegates refused to budge on a Senate plan to reduce income tax exemptions by $200 for residents earning less than $100,000 annually.
Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, D-Baltimore, said his chamber is unwilling to budge after giving up so much ground to the House.
“We’ve compromised our position to their position on almost every place we could accommodate them,” Kasemeyer said. “We feel from a good-faith perspective that we’ve given and given… and that’s not been reciprocated.”
The Senate plan would reduce exemptions by $200 for three years, and would add $54 million to state coffers in fiscal 2013, according to the Department of Legislative Services.
Meanwhile, delegates refused to budge on their position of holding harmless Marylanders earning less than $100,000.
“We have not made concessions because we believe that our principle of not taxing people who are middle class is a sound one,” said Del. Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery.
House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel County, accused the Senate of holding up budget talks with a bill favored by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. that would call a referendum on a proposal to allow a sixth casino in Maryland.
“If the budget of the state of the Maryland goes down and the senators are more concerned about their obsession with gaming than they are about school construction, school funding, hospitals, higher education money, then let them wear that when they go home and tell their constituents why they had to spend extra time in Annapolis,” Busch said, speaking to reporters after the House adjourned until 5 p.m.
Minutes later, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley arrived on scene and urged the two chambers to come to an agreement.
“I think our top priority needs to be the budget,” O’Malley told reporters. “Otherwise we revert to a situation of clearly doing a lot of damage to [Maryland’s] priorities.”
Lawmakers from both chambers are unsure if a deal can be reached, and Miller said the session may need to be extended.
“Unless we have an agreement, we’re prepared to let the body adjourn without having a budget agreement,” Miller said.
