Tax Lawyer's Blog

Here’s the eighth verse of Maryland’s state song, Maryland, My Maryland:

Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll,
Maryland!
Thou wilt not crook to his control,
Maryland!
Better the fire upon thee roll -
Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the soul,
Maryland! My Maryland!

Rob Shrum of Tax Policy Blog reports on the latest efforts by Maryland legislators to confiscate the wealth of their richest residents:

[Maryland] delegate Jolene Ivey (D) presented a bill (HB 1177) at a March 11th House Ways and Means Committee hearing that would make permanent the temporary “millionaire’s tax” that was enacted in 2008. In 2008, Maryland implemented four new brackets on high income earners:

• 5% on income between $150,000 and $300,000 (between $200,000 and $350,000 for couples);
• 5.25% on income between $300,000 and $500,000 (between $350,000 and $500,000 for couples);
• 5.5% on income between $500,000 and $1 million;
• and 6.25% on income over $1 million.

These state-level rates are in addition to Maryland’s highest-in-the-nation local income taxes, which are 3.2 percent of income in Montgomery and Baltimore counties, so the top rate in the state is now 9.45%, compared to Virginia’s 5.75%. HB 1177 specifically would make the higher tax rates on residents with incomes over $500,000 permanent.

Arguing her position on the bill, Delegate Ivey remarked, “Programs that help children, the elderly, the poor, the environment, education, the arts, the unemployed — everything’s on the chopping block. Millionaires should continue to share in the pain.”

But if recent history is an indicator, Delegate Ivey’s collectivist fantasy will backfire:

Competition does matter, and Maryland is finding that out the hard way. If the millionaires’ tax is made permanent, in contrast to what Delegate Ivey may believe, Maryland’s millionaires won’t continue to share in the pain, they will instead continue to pack their bags and take their capital, entrepreneurialism, and revenue elsewhere.

Related Posts: 

• Rich Folks Flee Maryland, Say Goodbye to High Taxes
• Welcome to Florida, Rich New Jerseyans and Oregonians. Won’t You Stay A While?
• High Taxes Cause New Yorkers to Flee
• Michael Caine to Move to America if Brit Tax Rates Goes to 51%
• Phantom of the Opera Composer Andrew Lloyd Weber Opposes High U.K. Taxes

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