Posted on 07/19/2007 7:25:43 AM PDT by sickoflibs
Gov. Martin O'Malley said this week that he wants to find ways to make the state's tax structure more progressive, and key legislators, including Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, have expressed support for at least a temporary tax increase on top earners, such as one that helped Maryland weather its last major fiscal crisis, in the early 1990s.
"I believe in progressive taxation," O'Malley, a Democrat, said last week.
Anyone who makes less than $8,450 a year does not have to file a tax return so, effectively, every taxpayer in the state is in the top bracket.
Maryland is one of just a few states in which counties levy income taxes. When those are considered, Maryland catapults into the top tier of income tax rates. According to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research center in Washington, the local income tax in Maryland averages nearly 3 percent, bringing the combined rate to about 7.5 percent. . The local income tax rates push Maryland well above its neighboring states. Virginia's top rate is 5.75 percent, West Virginia's is 6.5 percent, Delaware's is 5.95 percent, and Pennsylvania's is 3.07 percent. Local taxes in Pennsylvania bump that up to about 3.6 percent on average.
Del. Kumar P. Barve, the majority leader from Montgomery County, said raising the top brackets in Maryland could doubly hurt some taxpayers because of quirks in the federal alternative minimum tax.
Sen. David R. Brinkley, the minority leader from Frederick County, said Republicans are not going to go for the idea. Brinkley, who attended the governor's Chamber of Commerce speech, said the impression he got was that O'Malley is less committed to making the income tax fair than he is to finding a way to sell a tax increase to people.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Get this, High paid Howard County voters voted for O'Malley and now he will raise their high income taxes and push more of them into the Alternative Minimum tax. What justice! Unfortunately many of them use turbo tax and don't even know what triggers the AMT.
Howard County Maryland : GOVERNOR / LT. GOVERNOR Results
Candidates for Governor
Republican Ehrlich = 51,974 (49.1%)
Democratic O'Malley = 52,651 (49.8%)
http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2006/results/general/county_Howard_County.html
The Peoples Republic of Maryland gets what they so richly deserve.
Pay up suckers! Will you ever learn!?!?
Probably not. The sheep of Maryland would vote for Joe Stalin if he was on the Democrat ticket.
Progressive is such a nicey-nice word, don't you think?..........
And they could have had Michael Steele, who would have drawn a line in the sand on tax increases. I hope they enjoy O’Malley’s attentions to their bank accounts. As you said, pay up, suckers.
ROFL!
Sadly...so very true....
Maryland corruption power grab update
This just means more McMansions springing up in the Glen Rock - Shrewsbury (PA) area.
Temporary. Yeah sure.
I wonder if Tim Kaine and the money-hungry General Assembly will follow suit in increasing taxes here on top of the new “civil remedial fees” (which have already pissed off a lot of folks here, even liberals).
Yes, and I feel sorry for those communities, for soon the same fools who voted in Maryland’s tax and spend government until it got so bad they had to leave will be voting for the same stuff in PA.
Meralin PING!
BTW, Indiana is not far behind. State income tax flat rate 3.4% and Indianapolis has a County Option Tax which is proposed to go up to 1.65% making a total of 5.05%
Sad but true...... Montgomery County is giving Berkeley, CA and Madison, WI, competition as a Democrat-dominated looney-bin. The people get the government they deserve.
At least Carroll County voted the other way...
http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2006/results/general/county_Carroll_County.html
(R) Erlich 43,921 (69.9%)
(D) O’Malley 18,227 (29.0%)
“Yes, and I feel sorry for those communities, for soon the same fools who voted in Maryland’s tax and spend government until it got so bad they had to leave will be voting for the same stuff in PA”
I am afraid that that is exactly how it works (it’s so depressing) . Years ago Howard County Md was Republican and opposed taxes, then the libs moved in and took over in thousands of newly built houses, now we have the highest income tax in the state, and vote for higher taxes every election. The government loves it.
A lesson to Bush and Jack Kemp low tax-high spend Republicans, you can take the liberals out of their socialist hell with high paying federal contracts and put them in a place with great schools and low taxes and low crime, but you won’t change them, It just creates another socialist hell as they vote. It’s the opposite of the Berlin Wall.
My brother lives in Montgomery County. He is one of maybe 100 conservatives in the whole country.
He just put his house on the market. Wants out of there so bad he calls me every morning to say so.
My daughter lived in Tacoma Park last year, for 6 months. You can’t believe the city tax bill she got. Something like $700 with an income of $33K (gross). Then she had Montgomery County income tax, state income tax and federal income tax. Plus she was self employed so her SS was 15%. Didn’t leave much to live on.
I just moved here to Maryland. This is gonna be a fun battle, it seems...
At least MD gained two conservative voters when my fiance and myself moved here!
When my wife-to-be and I purchase a home we’ll probably look at Carroll County. Possibly Eastern Frederick Cty (Mt. Airy area) or even parts of Anne Arundel if we can afford it - all three are GOP counties.
True about Carroll County, but the same county voted about 80% for Ehrlich in 2002 - so a 10% drop when 2006 came by. I think Baltimore County went from 61% in 2002 to 50% in 2006. In fact, while I don’t have the data available now, I did study it after the 06 election, and the trend throughout MD was that Ehrlich lost a lot of support (5-10% drops) in the Republican counties, while his support lessened by only 2-3% in the Democratic Counties. Go to www.uselectionatlas.org and compare 02 and 06.
“At least MD gained two conservative voters when my fiance and myself moved here!”
Welcome! It is lonely here. You know I can understand those unforunates with little education and raised with no responsible adults being lured to liberalism. All those high paid-highly educated upper middle class liberals being so clueless and arguing democrat talking points, It’s a rational world upside down, I think the public schools have alot to do with it.
You sure got that right.
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