A little bit of everything
Health care advocates are stoking the tax fires again with legislation that would make Maryland’s tobacco taxes some of the highest in the country.
The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee heard testimony Wednesday on SB 589, which would increase the tobacco tax rate from $2 for a pack of cigarettes to $3. The bill also calls for steep hike on all other tobacco products — from 30% to 95% of the wholesale price.
Read moreMaryland’s Earned Income Credit (EIC) and minimum wage work best in combination to reduce poverty and income inequality. Increasing both would put our state on a better path to economic prosperity and opportunity for all. Benjamin Orr of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy responds to Barry Rascovar’s column.
Read moreBut along with the usual talk of “tough choices” and “moving forward,” Gov. Martin O’Malley’s State of the State Address is likely to tout that he balanced his proposed fiscal 2015 budget with “no new taxes or fees.” Thank God, most Marylanders would agree, but not Vinny DeMarco, persistent advocate of higher taxes on cigarettes and booze for the sake of public health as president of Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative.
Read moreThe state Assessments and Taxation Department hasn’t performed regular physical inspections of individual properties to support property assessments as required by state law for “many years,” legislative auditors found.
The department also did not audit or review business personal property tax returns or homeowner tax credits, according to an audit report released last month.
Read moreO’Malley as usual rolled out the new budget with an elaborate PowerPoint presentation to reporters that put a positive spin on the budget numbers. But a different spin can be put on some of the numbers.
Read moreDemocratic leaders have agreed to reduce Maryland’s high estate tax by recoupling it to federal standards for taxing a dead person’s assets. The “death tax” is considered one of the reasons that wealthy retirees choose to leave Maryland for states with lower taxes.
Read moreState Senate leaders told a business group Wednesday that they expected to see some sort of small business tax relief in the coming legislative session, possibly coupled with an increase in the minimum wage.
Read moreProgressive Democrats are using new polling results to continue their push for increasing Maryland’s minimum wage to $10 an hour, while they reject attempts to lower corporate taxes. A minimum wage hike and corporate tax cut are being discussed by General Assembly leaders ahead of the 2014 session.
Read moreDel. Heather Mizeur announces her economic plan in Lawyer’s Mall.
Del. Heather Mizeur, a Takoma Park Democrat running for governor, rolled out a 10-point economic plan Wednesday that includes a minimum “living” wage that would rise…
Read moreOverwhelming voter disapproval of a gas tax hike earlier this year has helped drive Gov. Martin O’Malley’s job approval rating below 50% for the first time in three years, a new poll found. The Gonzales Research poll also found marginal support, 49% to 44%, for the repeal of the death penalty O’Malley pushed, but wider support for the gun control measures the governor also backed, 58% to 40%.
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