Per the RGA:
Maryland Democrat Ben Jealous’s campaign for governor was dealt a major blow yesterday after a nonpartisan analysis found that Jealous’s proposed government takeover of healthcare would cost a whopping $24 billion per year – a figure that represents more than half of Maryland’s current operating budget. Such a massive increase in government spending would force a 10 percent payroll tax on businesses, and additionally require “a $2,800 fee for every man, woman and child” in the state.
These tax hikes don’t even include the ones needed to fund Jealous’s additional big spending schemes.
It’s now become clear why Ben Jealous can’t seem to say how much his spending plans cost – he knows that the cost is so staggeringly high that voters will never accept his radical ideas if he is honest about them.
The Baltimore Sun explains, “The analysis, drafted by the state’s Department of Legislative Services and released to The Baltimore Sun, said Maryland would have to levy a 10 percent payroll tax against every business and charge a $2,800 fee for every man, woman and child to pay for a new health care system in which doctors bill the state instead of private insurance companies.”
The National Review writes:
Kevin Harris, a spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous says that it’s “premature” to talk about what kind of taxes or fees would be raised to pay for the plan. (When would be a good time, then?)
This is pretty much what happened in Vermont. Democrats made the bold promises to voters that they would never have to worry about paying for health care ever again, promised to provide details later, won office, formed their commissions and study groups . . . and then when they actually had to translate their idea into a detailed plan, found themselves stunned by the costs and the tax increases that would be necessary to pay for it all. Maryland’s state government currently spends about $44 billion per year, so they would have to increase the state’s spending by 54 percent to enact Jealous’s plan. Of course, some experts, such as those at the Maryland State Medical Society, think enacting the plan could cost even more.
The plan may be moot; incumbent Republican governor Larry Hogan — profiled here — is enjoying consistent, sizable polling leads against Jealous. For what it’s worth, Hogan’s internal polls have his approval rating at . . . 76 percent.
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