The Maryland Budget Game has been developed by the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute and students in the University of Baltimore’s Applied Information Technology Program. Its purpose is to provide an appealing, interactive way for students and other tech-savvy Marylanders to learn about the state budget and the trade-offs that need to be made to achieve a balanced budget.

Players assume the role of Maryland’s Governor in making decisions to balance the state budget. Players travel to different locations to view budget options related to different policy areas: the schoolhouse for education, a clinic for health and so on. Based on the player’s decisions, the state’s near-term and long-term budget status improves or deteriorates. At the same time, ten different simulated interest groups react to the players’ every decision.

The game is available on the Internet at www.marylandpolicy.org. This project was made possible through a grant from the Stoneman Family Foundation.

About the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute

The Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research organization that provides timely, accurate and accessible analysis of state budget and tax issues.  In addition to general budget and tax research and analysis, the Institute examines issues affecting low-income Marylanders and other vulnerable populations and the important community programs that serve them.  For additional information, to be added to our e-mail list, or to make a tax-deductable contribution, please visit our website at www.marylandpolicy.org.

The Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute gratefully acknowledges the Ford Foundation, which provides financial support for the Institute under its State Fiscal Analysis Initiative.  Additional general support for the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute is provided by the Moriah Fund, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, the Fund for Change, the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, and generous individual donors.
The Institute is a project of Maryland Nonprofits, www.mdnonprofits.org.