| Legislative Question | Why it is Being Proposed | What is Wrong/Unfair About the Tax |
|---|---|---|
Expand state sales tax to additional goods and services, e.g.:
|
Need to find other sources of revenue because of failure to reduce structural deficit via spending cuts. | Sales taxes are regressive, and hurt lower income people disproportionally. When applied to easy to move goods and services, economic activity will move over state lines into DC, De, Va, and Pa. Amazon has threatened to cut ties with California affiliates because of recently enacted online sales tax. See Bloomberg, and Fox |
| Increase gas tax, add sales tax | Need to find other sources of revenue because of failure to reduce structural deficit with spending cuts. Further, the Transportation Fund was raided to fund the general fund, and needs to be replenished. | This will make Maryland’s gas tax the highest in the entire region, and we believe, will have a negative impact on businesses and individuals in the state. This could actually reduce gas tax revenues as people go across borders to purchase gas. Also, as gas prices rise and fall, tax revenue will either reduce demand or reduce yield. |
| Raise the state property tax by 56% to cover debt service on bond portfolio | The use of debt to fund operating expenses and costs that were normally paid with cash is driving debt payments up (from $835 million to $1.1 billion in 2016. In 2013, current tax revenues will no longer cover the debt payments. | Increasing taxes this drastically will negatively impact home values, which ultimately leads to lower tax revenue. |
| (Not in Legislature) Raise tolls all over the state by 200-300% in order to put more money into the Transportation Fund, and specifically to pay for the ICC. | The Transportation Fund was raided to fund general fund expenditures, and needs to be replenished to support transportation projects, with a significant amount to cover ICC costs | The tolls directly affect the pocketbooks of many middle class citizens who have to commute daily over bridges and toll roads to get to work. This is an excessive and regressive tax that negatively affects business in the State |