Searching for a way to pay for an expensive public education overhaul, Maryland House Democrats want to cut the state sales tax rate by one percentage point and expand the tax to professional services, including visits to the accountant or the beautician, which are currently exempt.
“Maryland’s sales tax is antiquated,” Majority Leader Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery) said “We tax goods and not services, and the economy is on services.”
Luedtke said House Democratic leaders will formally introduce legislation on Thursday that would broaden the sales tax but also cut the rate from 6 percent to 5 percent, lower than neighboring Virginia and Pennsylvania. The tax would not apply to education services, health care or services provided by nonprofit or civic organizations.
It was unclear on Wednesday how the House bill would be received in the Senate. Neither Senate Budget and Taxation Chairman Guy J. Guzzone (D-Howard) nor a spokesman for Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) returned calls seeking comment.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Ovetta Wiggins over at The Washington Post