Senate committee proposes $100 million a year in income tax relief – MarylandReporter.com
The Senate Budget and Taxation committee approved a tax relief package that will save Marylanders about $100 million a year when fully implemented.
The dollar amount was based on the total proposed in Gov. Larry Hogan’s package of tax reductions, but it was based more on the recommendation of the Augustine business competitiveness commission to reduce the top tax rate.
Taxpayers with adjusted gross income over $100,000 would save 1-3% a year, the working poor making $50,000 would save about $375 a year through an Earned Income Tax Credit, and taxpayers in the middle would get higher personal exemptions, saving $16-20 per person.
“We thought if possible everybody should be included,” said Ed Kasemeyer, chair of the committee. But he said the committee needed to “be prudent on how much” to reduce taxes and “be cognizant of the future economy of the state.”
‘Giveaway to the wealthiest’
Benjamin Orr, executive director of the progressive Maryland Center on Economic Policy, called the committee package “a giveaway to the very wealthiest Marylanders, at the expense of everyone else. It can’t legitimately be called middle-class tax relief.
“Strengthening the Earned Income Tax Credit to help working people who struggle to get by on low wages is an important and welcome step that shouldn’t be paired with a tax break that gives the greatest benefit to millionaires,” Orr said.
The committee did not share it work sheets with reporters or observers during their work session.
According to Orr’s analysis, strengthening the EITC, as the committee recommended, would help hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers who currently receive little or no benefit from the tax credit. They would receive an average credit of about $375, once the credit is fully phased in. Currently the average credit is around $75, with people under 25 not receiving any credit at all.
