Issue Position: Maryland Corporate Income Taxes

Issue Position

Martin O'Malley raised Maryland's corporate income tax from 7% to 8-1/4%, while Virginia's corporate income tax is only 6%. Experts in corporate relocation will tell you that any corporation planning to relocate consults a checklist to winnow down the potential states where the business will relocate, and the very first item on the checklist is the corporate income tax rate. With Maryland's corporate income tax rate two and a quarter percent higher than Virginia, it's likely that many corporations contemplating a relocation take a look at the first item on their checklist, see the huge disparity between Virginia and Maryland and simply cross Maryland off of the list of potential states.

The bottom line: If I am elected, I will propose an immediate reduction of Maryland's corporate income tax rate from 8-1/4% to 6% (the same rate as Virginia), with additional annual -1/2% reductions until Maryland's rate is only 3%, half of the rate in Virginia. Let's try to make the disparity between the corporate income tax rates of Maryland and Virginia work to Maryland's advantage for a while.

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