The Power of Branding

Few enactments emanating from Maryland’s General Assembly have gained as much intense and prolonged debate as the unfunded mandate placed upon Maryland’s 10 largest jurisdictions to carry out stormwater management projects.  Popularly known as the “rain tax,” the legislation sought to compel the state’s largest jurisdictions to implement new fees to pay for these projects. The controversy over the rain tax has continued unabated as each of the affected jurisdictions determines how to deal with this state mandate.

The rain tax was designed in no small part to force Republican dominated jurisdictions to raise taxes on their citizens. 

Why? Because one of the most powerful brands that the Republican Party has is steadfast opposition to tax increases.