As a first step in learning to cook, many a college undergraduate took to throwing spaghetti at a kitchen wall. If it stuck, the pasta supposedly was ready to eat.

In his proposed budget for fiscal 2013, the buildup to it, the subsequent details of a plan to raise Maryland’s gas tax and his State of the State address Wednesday, Gov. Martin O’Malley seems to be doing a variation of the spaghetti-against-the-wall play. In his case, the fettuccine is in the form of taxes.

It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that tax increases are being proposed — some had been telegraphed for many months. But the full scope of them is surprising. Still, the state has to close a $1.1 billion budget deficit, and much infrastructure is in need of repair while transportation funding has been raided repeatedly.

Plus, any savvy political observer will say that the year after an election — and well before the next election comes along — is the time to propose tax hikes. That leaves enough time for the public to forget or get over any collective anger.

With the gas tax increase proposed this week, the governor is calling for a 6 percent sales tax bump to be phased in over three years. At $3.50, the price of a gallon of fuel would go up 21 cents by the third year. While no one likes a tax increase, the results of a gas price hike at least are visible if, in fact, the money is dedicated to road and bridge construction. Transportation is crucial to the state’s economy, which is why much of the business community would support such a tax increase.

But, making up a budget shortfall is more abstract. That’s just one reason proposals such as one by O’Malley to expand the state’s sales tax to digital products, such as apps and downloaded music, drew immediate criticism.

Then, there’s O’Malley’s call for a reduction in income tax exemptions. Under the governor’s plan, exemptions would be cut from $2,400 to $1,200 per person for singles earning $100,000 to $125,000 and couples making $150,000 to $175,000. Individuals making more than $125,000 and couples above $175,000 would lose the exemptions entirely.

Also, individuals or families earning more than $100,000 could take only 90 percent of their itemized deductions for costs such as mortgage interest and property taxes. For those making more than $200,000, the applicable deductions would be reduced to 80 percent.

While the proposed changes in exemptions and deductions are expected to generate more than $183 million for the state, they also are triggering some intense opposition and, as a story this week by reporter Danielle Gaines notes, healthy debate over what constitutes “middle class” these days.

A number of lawmakers, rightfully, are questioning why families earning $100,000, or even $150,000, are being targeted. As any household with expenses ranging from food to college to car payments to, yes, gasoline can attest, joint incomes in the low-six figures barely cut it anymore. The $100,000 threshold should not even be on the radar.