WYPR’s Sheilah Kast interviewed UMBC political science professor Roy Meyers today on “Maryland Morning,” discussing the Maryland state budget. The Maryland General Assembly convenes for their 2012 session this week. As they review the first version of the 2013 state budget, they’ll need to begin reckoning with a deficit over $1 billion.
Meyers discusses the options for filling this budget gap, including one-time savings, tax increases and spending cuts. He also notes the difficulties associated with state budgeting at a time of uncertainty regarding Congressional tax policy decisions and global economic trends. Meyers explores the issue of balancing the general fund by transferring money out of the Transportation Trust Fund and other dedicated sources in a web extra.
Update: The political fact-checking site PolitiFact also consulted Meyers this week on the Obama campaign’s assertion: “Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich all say they would cut foreign aid to Israel — and every other country — to zero.” Meyers suggested that the campaign misused the term “zeroing-out” and that the statement is “misleading, to say the least.”
