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1 William Ahern, Maryland Flouts Regional Tax Competition with Historic Tax Hike 1 (2008)

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Maryland Flouts Regional Tax Competition with Historic Tax Hike
Fiscal Fact No. 124
by William Ahern
April 9, 2008
Governor O'Malley has now put the icing on his first term's biggest cake, a historic tax hike. We
see no record of any state having raised all three of its major tax rates in one fell swoop, but
Maryland has done just that.
The icing is a so-called millionaire's tax, a 6.25 percent rate on income over $1 million, which on
top of the local income tax will bring the rate on most Maryland income over $1 million to about
9.45 percent.' All the other tax hikes on personal income, general sales and corporate income
were set in law during the fall's special session.
But what about people in the middle-income ranges, say from $50,000 to $100,000? With all the
talk about socking it to millionaires, many people have overlooked the fact that middle-income
taxpayers are still more heavily taxed in Maryland than in any other state in the region. In fact,
there are now only five states in the U.S.-California, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine and Oregon-where
a couple with $75,000 in taxable income might be in a higher bracket than an average Maryland
couple.2
The Maryland rate for middle-income workers is about 7.5 percent (4.75% state plus 2.73%
local), well above the rate paid in any neighboring state (see Table 1).

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