2-YEAR DROP IN STATE REVENUES EXPECTED: Maryland tax revenues are expected to be down $365 million this fiscal year and another $418 million in fiscal 2018, a $783 million drop in what the state can spend, eating up all this year’s projected budget surplus, writes Len Lazarick for MarylandReporter.com. The estimate revision is the largest projected write-down since 2010, when the state was in the midst of recession recovery and the panel was off by 5%.
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The revised projections released by the state Board of Revenue Estimates put a damper on the prospects for more spending or significant tax relief as Republican Gov. Larry Hogan heads into his third General Assembly session in January, Michael Dresser of the Sun writes.
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The new projections say the state will take in $16.6 billion in revenue this year and $17.2 billion in fiscal 2018, a reduction of about 2% each year compared with previous estimates, Josh Hicks writes in the Post.
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Comptroller Peter Franchot, who chairs the board, said the news is proof of an economy that continues to falter and fails to bring recovery to the state, Bryan Sears reports for the Daily Record. “These are significant reductions in our estimates and reflect the volatility that Maryland’s economy continues to experience,” Franchot said adding that the figures “tell the story of what is happening in our communities and towns across the state.”