BALTIMORE — Maryland’s wealthiest earners would pay more in state taxes, while corporations and other workers would get a tax cut under a budget plan Gov. Wes Moore will introduce Wednesday — marking the first time the Democrat has thrown his political weight behind policies that could directly impact most Marylanders’ pocketbooks.

Moore teased the plan Tuesday but offered few details ahead of the formal announcement, the opening salvo for almost three months of budget negotiations with the Maryland General Assembly.

Maryland’s income tax rates currently max out at 5.75% for individuals earning more than $250,000 and couples earning more than $300,000.

Progressive lawmakers and advocates — pleading for more funding for priorities like education — have spent years pushing various plans that would add a series of larger tax brackets, up to 7% for those making more than $1 million, while keeping rates the same for those earning less than $250,000.

Legislation called the “Fair Share for Maryland Act” offered last year, which is in the works again for this session, included those changes as well as expanded corporate taxes and tax credits of up to a few hundred dollars for households earning less than $165,000.

Moore repeatedly declined to consider any such changes through the first half of his four-year term. Now facing a dramatic $3 billion deficit this year and a five-year forecast that’s considered the worst in decades, his proposal Wednesday will include the tax shifts as well as $2 billion in cuts.

At multiple events Tuesday, Moore did not answer questions about what level of income will qualify for a tax cut or a tax increase under his plan.

“We have got to make our taxes in the state of Maryland simpler, fairer and, for the vast majority of Marylanders, lower,” he said to a crowd of business leaders at IonQ, a quantum computing company, in College Park.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Moore also acknowledged he is personally among the wealthy Marylanders who his policies are targeting.

An Army veteran and bestselling author who also worked as an investment banker and business owner, he earned about $1 million in his final year as CEO of the New York City-based nonprofit Robin Hood Foundation before running for governor in 2021 and 2022. A blind trust he created to manage his assets while serving as governor contained $2.5 million worth of investments.

“For the people like myself who’ve done very, very well over these past years, yes, we are being asked to pay a little bit more,” he said, “because we believe that that is going to help to ignite the kind of economic momentum and the data-driven momentum that people are looking for.”

The broad strokes of the governor’s plan are “definitely encouraging,” said Kali Schumitz, spokeswoman for the Maryland Center on Economic Policy that is part of the expanding group of advocates supporting the Fair Share plan.

“It sounds like this is in the right direction,” Schumitz said. “Our coalition continues to be focused on raising significant revenue so that Maryland families and communities are not harmed by major cuts to public services that we all rely on.”

Pressured to raise taxes by members of his party who warned of a worsening budget picture, Moore had repeatedly said he maintained a “very high bar” for tax hikes. Just last week, he declined to say in public appearances and an interview with The Baltimore Sun if he would consider proposals on tax changes.

While legislators could still debate different ideas — such as an expansion of the 6% state sales tax — in the beginning of the 90-day legislative session, Moore said Tuesday he is not proposing increases to the sales or property taxes, and that he will propose lowering the 8.25% corporate tax rate.

Businesses could still end up being impacted through other policies, such as eliminating what advocates say is a “loophole” allowing some multi-state corporations to pay less in Maryland income taxes. Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat who has opposed tax increases in a similar way to Moore, has said in recent weeks he believes taxes impacting businesses will be part of discussions as lawmakers look for more money.

Moore did not answer directly when asked by The Sun last week about proposals to eliminate the “loophole” through a method known as combined reporting. He has instead focused on boosting businesses through a new “economic growth agenda” that he said is aimed at reversing the trend of Maryland’s sluggish economy.

At the quantum company, executives applauded as Moore announced four bills aimed at spurring economic growth that he said he will sponsor this session, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in related investments.

That includes $750 million he said will be dedicated to “economic growth and workforce development,” and $128 million in targeted ways to “strengthen Maryland’s competitiveness with our neighbors.”

He did not say where the money would go specifically but noted increases in funding for Maryland Department of Commerce initiatives like the Build Our Future program, which provides up to $2 million grants to technology companies via a law that Moore introduced in 2023, and the Maryland Manufacturing 4.0 program, which offers up to $500,000 grants to small and mid-sized manufacturers.

“We will create good-paying jobs. We will cultivate top talent and we will make it easier for businesses to be able to choose Maryland, to stay in Maryland, to grow in Maryland, and to invest in Marylanders,” Moore said.

The governor’s budget and legislative agenda could face pushback from Republicans who are in the minority and opposed to tax hikes.

Helping Republican legislators launch a Maryland Freedom Caucus on Tuesday in Annapolis, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris — an Eastern Shore Republican who chairs the same conservative caucus in Congress — criticized Moore’s latest statements about pursuing some new tax increases.

“That’s what Democrats do. They raise taxes, and it will be no exception tomorrow,” Harris said. “You need a group that pushes back.”

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