MD proposed omnibus tax bill takes aim at corporate loopholes, tax for wealthy

MARYLAND – Democratic lawmakers in Maryland are announcing the Fair Share Campaign. It’s aimed at passing a package of legislation that would increase the tax burden on wealthy Marylanders, and close tax loopholes.

State Senator Shelly Hettleman of Baltimore County is the lead sponsor of the Fair Share Maryland tax.

In a statement to 47 ABC WMDT, she said the legislation would raise approximately $1.6 billion annually for Maryland’s general fund when fully phased in. She added it would give tax breaks to working families by expanding the Child Tax Credit.

The legislation closes corporate tax loopholes and creates upper tax brackets for the wealthiest taxpayers in the state, so that the wealthiest 1% of Marylanders would be paying roughly the same proportion of their income as low and middle-income filers currently do.

The measure would also tax Maryland businesses that operate locations in other states at the Maryland rate.

However, some business leaders are not in support of the measure, saying it would make the state appear unfriendly to new businesses looking to move in, and push out wealthy Marylanders to move to other states.

“What these legislators fail to realize is those business owners have choices,” said Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce President Bill Chambers. “They’ll just pick up from Maryland, and move their permanent locations to another state that doesn’t have combined reporting. This has failed in other states, and it will fail in Maryland as well.”

Chambers added that wealthy Marylanders are also job creators that the state cannot afford to push out. He suggested the state should consider a corporate tax cut, following the lead of Pennsylvania to get corporations to move into the state.