In 2012, when perennial unsuccessful Republican candidate Larry Hogan first claimed Maryland was losing residents to other states,we showed how he cropped the data to make it look as if Maryland’s net loss of taxpayers coincided with Gov. O’Malley and Lt. Gov. Brown's tenure. Ironically, the full data set showed the taxpayer exodus coincided with Gov. Ehrlich's tenure. While Mr. Hogan served as a self-described "cabinet secretary," Maryland suffered a net loss of 61,000 residents, the deepest net loss of Maryland taxpayers since interstate migration data has been available.
And contrary to Mr. Hogan's message, the drain actually tapered off and reversed under Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Brown's watch, so that Maryland had a net taxpayer migration gain in 2009 for the first time since Mr. Ehrlich's term began.
Well the turnaround continues. Recently released IRS data shows more taxpayers moved to Maryland from other states than left for the second year in a row. In 2010, the most recent year for which IRS data is available, Maryland had a net gain of 162 residents from other states, following 2009's net gain of 1,949 residents. That's no tidal wave, but it's much better than Mr. Ehrlich's loss of 26,636 Marylanders to other states in 2006, and the total loss of 61,000 residents over the four years Mr. Hogan served as his cabinet secretary.
Despite what Mr. Hogan says, Marylanders are no longer fleeing to other states in larger numbers than residents of other states are moving to Maryland. Each year of the O'Malley/Brown administration has seen an improvement in net migration, and now the most recently released datas shows for two years in a row, more residents have moved into Maryland from other states than have left.
GOP candidate Larry Hogan campaigns all over the state complaining of a mass exodus of Maryland taxpayers, yet the hard data from the IRS that Mr. Hogan himself chose to cite shows the opposite.
This is the fourth time in recent weeks that Mr. Hogan has been called out for fudging the truth. First, he was caught bungling the numbers on his window dressing "plan" to cut waste; next, his old saw about 13, or was it 14, Fortune 500 companies leaving Maryland was proven totally false; then he was caught red-handed telling gun advocates his secret plan to ease licensing and assault rifle bans, contrary to his public promise not to change gun control if elected.
***Note to Wiseguys: The Koch funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) publishes an annual "Rich States Poor States" missive authored by economist Arthur Laffer, of Reagan-era "Laffer Curve" fame. Ignoring the concept of causality, it purports to show that low tax GOP darling states are America's wealthy powerhouses, ignoring their horrible poverty rates, dismal healthcare, and low education rankings. The latest edition includes a bar graph showing Maryland losing residents to other states in the most recent year, but this is not based on actual returns from the IRS Statistics on Income data set. Rather, it is extrapolated from the U.S. Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey, which frequently revised year to year.
- Steve Lebowitz, Annapolis