Progressive or Regressive?

Whether the overall budget is regressive or progressive remains a matter of debate:

Nick Johnson, a fiscal director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the impact of the laws will be "a little uneven across the income scale."

"I think low-income families are going to take a certain amount of a hit," Johnson said. "There's no way around that. They're going to get hit worse than they would have under the governor's original plan." . . .

Sean Dobson, executive director of Progressive Maryland, said the legislative package is "a victory for working families."

"While there is some regressive stuff in there, the overall package represents a win," Dobson said. "What we have now is an improvement over the status quo."

Of course, this debate really remains of interest to insiders. I suspect that most people will dislike "taxes" going up and care less about the impact on the rich or the poor. Remember, America has long been a land that celebrates the wealthy as "winners." Few complained about the relatively flat state income tax during the election campaign.

However, whether we hear much about it, people are right to express interest the impact of the tax plans on people of different incomes just as they should be concerned about its impact on the State's economy. The lower and middle classes have been increasingly squeezed as the cost of housing, health care, and transportation rise faster than incomes. Will the budget plan exacerbate that squeeze and to what extent?