Maryland House and Senate leaders announced three bills aimed at saving residents from a projected tax hit of nearly $1 billion — a result of the congressional vote to cut federal taxes.
Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch were joined by fellow lawmakers — all Democrats — at Tuesday’s announcement. The bills, they said, would protect the 92 percent of Marylanders who can expect to see their tax bills go up as a result of the federal changes.
One bill would allow Marylanders to take a personal exemption on their state taxes. It’s the same exemption that was eliminated from federal taxes under the congressional action.
“If you’re one person, you claim one personal exemption,” Miller explained. “Or, if you’re a family of seven, you have five children, husband and wife, you get seven personal exemptions.”
Miller asked reporters, “Is there possibly a fairer way to return money to the people of the state of Maryland?”
Another bill would “uncouple” state law from federal law on the inheritance tax. Under this plan, Maryland could tax inheritances of $5 million or more. If left unchanged, the revised federal tax code limits the state to taxing inheritances of $11.2 million or greater.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Kate Ryan over at the WTOP