Tax breaks to encourage new manufacturing operations in Maryland are dead for this session, after the Senate Budget and Taxation struggled to come up with compromises that would please all sides, especially current manufacturers.
The committee was working on SB181 sponsored by Sen. Roger Manno, with all but three members of the Senate co-sponsoring the legislation. The prospects of the legislation seemed to get an extra boost when Gov. Larry Hogan made a similar package of tax breaks creating Manufacturing Empowerment Zones, SB386, one of his top legislative priorities.
The key elements of both bills were eliminating the corporate income tax for any new manufacturer in Maryland, and eliminating the state personal income tax for any new employees for a similar period. Counties could also waive property taxes.
Hogan’s bill applied only to Maryland’s poorest jurisdictions — Baltimore City, far western Maryland and the lower Eastern Shore. Manno’s bill initially applied to the whole state, but he had agreed to make it a pilot program in seven counties.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Len Lazarick over at the Maryland Reporter