Larry Hogan to roll back $50 million in state fees
Hundreds of Maryland state fees will be rolled back or eliminated in an effort to save taxpayers more than $50 million over the next five years, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday.
The more than 100 fees cut across multiple agencies include reducing the cost of obtaining a homeless identification card, reducing the cost of vehicle emission test fees and eliminating license fees to post advertisements on state roads. There will also be an additional 115 fee cuts in the Maryland Department of Agriculture alone, which accounts for the planned 20 percent across-the-board reduction in lab fees for animal health diagnostics.
These fee rollbacks come on the heels of the governor’s announcement in July that he would be eliminating the E-Z Pass maintenance fees.
But considering the state has a $40 billion annual budget and an even larger economy, cutting fees amounting to $10 million a year for five years will not create any tangible effect in stimulating the economy, Benjamin Orr, the executive director of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, said.
“This amount is not the sort of thing that will have a significant positive or negative effect on the state’s economy because it might save a little bit of money for individuals here and there, but it’s going to be a very, very small amount that ends up back in the pockets of any individual Marylanders,” Mr. Orr said. “It may mean an extra night out at the movies or something like that, but it’s not going to have a huge impact on Maryland families.”
