BALTIMORE — Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot and Economist Andy Schaufele discussed COVID-19's economic effects on Friday morning.
Maryland's fiscal year ends on June 30, 2020. Officials are predicting that Maryland will lose $2.8 billion in general fund revenue this fiscal year, given the stay-at-home order continues. Included in the $2.8 billion loss are just under $1 billion in sales tax revenue forfeited and about another billion dollars foregone in income tax.
108,508 Marylanders filed for unemployment last week, marking a 5,200% increase in filings over the past few weeks.
Comptroller Franchot called The Great Recession of 2008 a 'picnic' compared to coronavirus' effects on the budget. Comparatively, during The Great Recession, it took 38 weeks for Maryland to reach 239,000 unemployment filings and only 3 weeks to pass 239,000 filings amid COVID-19.
Franchot and Schaufele ended the meeting by commending Governor Hogan on his response to COVID-19.
You can watch the meeting here and find the latest from Comptroller Franchot here.