ANNAPOLIS, Md. 鈥� Maryland House and Senate leaders announced three bills aimed at saving residents from a projected tax hit of nearly $1 billion 鈥� a result of the congressional vote to cut federal taxes.
Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch were joined by fellow lawmakers 鈥� all Democrats 鈥� at Tuesday鈥檚 announcement. The bills, they said, would protect the 92 percent of Marylanders who can expect to see their tax bills go up as a result of the federal changes.
One bill would allow Marylanders to take a personal exemption on their state taxes. It鈥檚 the same exemption that was eliminated from federal taxes under the congressional action.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e one person, you claim one personal exemption,鈥� Miller explained. 鈥淥r, if you鈥檙e a family of seven, you have five children, husband and wife, you get seven personal exemptions.鈥�
Miller asked reporters, 鈥淚s there possibly a fairer way to return money to the people of the state of Maryland?鈥�
Another bill would 鈥渦ncouple鈥� state law from federal law on the inheritance tax. Under this plan, Maryland could tax inheritances of $5 million or more. If left unchanged, the revised federal tax code limits the state to taxing inheritances of $11.2 million or greater.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to flesh this out over the next 85 days to make sure that Marylanders are protected in this system that鈥檚 been put upon them by the federal government,鈥� Busch said.
A third bill would deal with charitable deductions.
Asked about the plans by Democrats, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan told reporters, 鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled that they鈥檙e talking about this.鈥� It鈥檚 an indication, he said, that Democrats were 鈥渙n board鈥� with his plans to protect taxpayers.
Hogan referred to his statement last month that he鈥檇 come up with a plan to 鈥渉old Marylanders harmless鈥� from the impact of the changes in the federal tax code. He was asked about the details of his plan at a budget briefing Tuesday. The governor didn鈥檛 offer any details, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to announce that sometime very soon.鈥�
The bottom line, said Hogan, was that Democrats share his concern that residents should be protected from adverse effects of the change in the federal tax code.
鈥淲e agree,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd I鈥檓 sure we鈥檒l figure out a way to work the details out.鈥�
The lawmakers are in the second week of their 90-day General Assembly session.
