Martin O' Malley's credentials for the Democrat Party nomination...

From the 'rain tax' to the 'flush tax': 40
times Martin OMalley raised taxes

BY JASON RUSSELL | MAY 30, 2015 

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will launch his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Saturday in Baltimore. During the forthcoming campaign, it will be impossible for O'Malley to escape his past as a fiscal liberal who made higher taxes rain over Maryland.
Maryland was hit by 40 tax hikes costing $9.5 billion during O'Malley's eight years in office, from 2007-14. Tax-weary Marylanders made Republican Larry Hogan governor in 2014, bucking O'Malley's lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, who was the Democratic candidate. Less-patient Marylanders voted with their feet and simply fled the state: Almost 72,000 people left Maryland from mid-2007 to mid-2014, according to Census Bureau data.
O'Malley didn't hit just the rich with his tax hikes; everyone from Ocean City to Cumberland felt the pain. The state sales tax rose to 6 percent and was applied to an increasing number of items. On the campaign trail, O'Malley may come to regret his infamous "rain tax," which imposed a fee on property owners due to storm water management efforts. Birth and death certificate fees doubled, taking more money from Marylanders on both ends of their life.

Here is a comprehensive list of the tax and fee hikes O'Malley signed into law as governor of Maryland:
• Handgun licensing fees and other firearm registration fees
• Electricity rate increase due to higher expense of power produced by offshore wind farm • Vehicle registration surcharge (Transportation package)
• Maryland Transit Authority fare increase (Transportation package)
• Indexing gas tax to increase with the consumer price index (Transportation package)
• Applying wholesale tax to gasoline sales (Transportation package)
• Income tax increase on Marylanders earning more than $100,000
• Reduction of personal income exemption for Marylanders earning more than $100,000

• Recordation tax applied to indemnity mortgages
• Increase tobacco tax rate from 15 to 70 percent for certain products
• Double death certificate fee
• Repeal of the sales tax exemption on penalty charges assessed on the late return of gas cylinders • Double Bay Restoration fee ("Flush tax")
• Require counties to collect Storm Water Management Fee ("Rain tax")
• Increase Weights and Measures Registration fee
• Double Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund Fee
• New fee for major modifications under the Wetland Water Way Program
• Hospital assessment
• Alcoholic beverage sales tax increase from 6 to 9 percent
• Vehicle dealer processing charge
• Double vanity plate fee
• Double vehicle certificate of title fee
• Out of State Attorney Admission fee
• Increase in contractor licensing and renewal fees
• Double birth certificate fee
• Eliminates exemption of premium tax on worker's compensation
• Bridge and tunnel toll increases
• Fishing license and registration fees
• Speed cameras in school and work zones
• Increase the top marginal tax rate from 5.5 to 6.25 percent ("Millionaire's tax"), since expired

• Computer services tax
• New income tax marginal rates from 4.75 to 5.5 percent
• Increase sales tax from 5 to 6 percent
• Increase state corporate income tax from 7 to 8.25 percent • Increase cigarette tax from $1 to $2 per pack
• Increase vehicle titling tax from $23 to $25
• Vehicle excise tax increase
• Electronic gambling tip jar tax
• Real property transfer tax
• Elimination of Captive Real Estate Investment Trusts 

And, this all helped to make Baltimore what it is today.