We are a nest of paper-shufflers over here, and you can shuffle paper pretty much anywhere.
Sounds like they are taxing you pretty much to the limit. I thought City of Atlanta was bad, but clearly they are amateurs in this area! (You have a COUNTY income tax??!!?)
“Yeah, if you have a lot of contact with the public, telecommuting on a regular basis is pretty much a no-go.”
Actually, I've mandated that folks work to set up clients so that we can do as much remote work as possible. But large amounts of our work require physical interaction.
“Sounds like they are taxing you pretty much to the limit. I thought City of Atlanta was bad, but clearly they are amateurs in this area! (You have a COUNTY income tax??!!?)”
There are folks more heavily taxed. My understanding is that New York City and some of the surrounding suburbs have it worse. But Maryland's pretty good at taxing folks, too. For folks with public water, of course, there are taxes built in. But a few years ago, they came after us folks with septic tanks, charging us an additional $30 per year for the privilege of having a well. LOL.
Of course, we have a variety of state lottery games, and we have horse racing, where a significant percentage of the handle is skimmed off the top and sent directly to Annapolis. They want to save the horse racing industry by putting slot machines in at the tracks (because the tracks in nearby Delaware, West Virginia, and now Pennsylvania are doing similarly), and of course, the largest percentage, after pay-outs, of the handle will go to the state. Estimated state revenues: starting at $800M annually.
As for county income tax, it's called a “piggyback tax.” The state's tax is up to 6+% (although, in all fairness, the rate is something like 5.5% for the first million dollars annually of taxable income), and then each county sets its own “piggyback tax” which is collected by the state through the state income tax system and then sent back to the individual taxpayer's county of residence. I think that the highest permitted piggyback tax is something in the range of about 3%? My county is a little less than 2.5%.
In some counties, there is a park and planning tax that is roughly equal to the property tax, and comes as part of your property tax bill. That's why the property tax bills in the neighboring county are double what they are in my county.
If you own waterfront, there are special taxes for that, depending on your frontage.
Local municipalities, of course, have their own taxes. But so do unincorporated "taxing districts." What's nasty about these is that the folks who informally get to decide the taxes aren't elected in government-sponsored elections, and because they aren't elected government officials, aren't subject to the same restraints as are government officials.
Then, for some years, there have been “fees” imposed by the public water authorities and the local counties for “impact” of development. These are amortized and added to your water or tax bills, and can add a couple of thousand bucks a year over the course of some years for new construction.
The state also charges a property tax, which is added on to the county property tax bill.
When you buy/sell a house, there is a recordation fee (I think that's $500), and then there is a transfer tax, which, again, varies from county to county. I think that the state portion is something over 1%, and counties vary from 1% up. Meaning that the state and local fees and taxes on a typical $500,000 home will easily top $12,000 or more.
This was very cool for the state and counties during the real estate boom. It was better than having your own printing press. Yet, we were always in danger of running a state budget deficit. LOL. So, when the real estate market went south, our new governor upped the sales tax, the income tax, and any other taxes he could find lying around that hadn't been raised in recent years.
Oh, and the tax on cigarettes. I think it's like a buck higher per pack than in Virginia.
And of course, we have high taxes on alcohol, and a protected alcohol distribution industry. It's illegal to buy alcohol over state lines, including over the Internet. Because Maryland isn't getting its “fair share” of the cut.
All that aside, I live in the Annapolis area, and it is a beautiful place to live.
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