In his first two years in office, Sen. Bryan Simonaire has consistently voted against tax increases, including during the 2007 Special Session when taxes were raised to $1.3 billion annually.
Simonaire, a Republican who represents the 31st District in Anne Arundel County, recently received the Maryland Taxpayers Association’s Taxpayer Advocate award for 2008 for his voting record.
“It reflects my view that we shouldn’t tax people heavily, and it’s in line with my philosophy,” Simonaire said. “The award caught me by surprise, actually.”
Simonaire said he knew the economy was “headed for an uncertain time” at the time of the Special Session in November 2007.
“People deserve to keep more of their hard-earned income,” Simonaire said. “We are certainly facing difficult times ahead, but government cannot solve the problem by taking more money of the pockets of citizens struggling to pay their bills.”
Dee Hodges, chairman of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, commended Simonaire for voting against tax increases in both 2007 and 2008.
“He voted against the past two irresponsible budgets, the first of which set up the egregious tax increases, and the second has set up a continuing spending deficit,” Hodges said.
“The voters should be happy to find they elected not just another politician, but a statesman who supports constituents generally in need and who recognizes that for most constituents low taxes and a rising economy provide the best kind of support,” Hodges said.
Simonaire, 45, was elected to the Maryland State Senate in 2006. He was born and raised in Maryland and has lived in Pasadena for more than 35 years.
He and his wife Elizabeth have seven children.
On his Web site, Simonaire wrote about the repeal of the computer services tax in 2008, a tax that would have charged 6 percent on all tech services in Maryland.
“The computer service tax that impacts almost everyone directly or indirectly was the only tax repealed, though it was not an easy task,” Simonaire wrote. “While I believe the computer tax should never have been enacted in the first place, there is still a lot of work to be done to alleviate the overburdening tax grip on Maryland constituents.”
