Tax Bill

The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill that would allow states to require Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on behalf of local governments. This bill has flaws, but they could be fixed in the House. It should be passed. I don't like the idea of the state and local governments collecting more taxes - they know no limits to their capacity to tax and squander our hard-earned dollars - but the current situation is unfair and bad economic policy. (Also, Marylanders stand to gain from this legislation in another way, because of a state law that will reduce future increases in gasoline taxes if taxing Internet sales is allowed.)

The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill that would allow states to require Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on behalf of local governments. This bill has flaws, but they could be fixed in the House. It should be passed. I don't like the idea of the state and local governments collecting more taxes - they know no limits to their capacity to tax and squander our hard-earned dollars - but the current situation is unfair and bad economic policy. (Also, Marylanders stand to gain from this legislation in another way, because of a state law that will reduce future increases in gasoline taxes if taxing Internet sales is allowed.)

Baltimore County residents: Feel free to get nosy about your neighbors' property taxes. A new online database from The Baltimore Sun allows users to find the assessed value and the amount of tax paid for any Baltimore County home or commercial property . The database contains numbers from the tax year that ended June 30, 2012, and gives users multiple search options. In addition to looking up a property by address, users can search by the property owner's name, the assessed value, the tax amount or the credit amount.

Explicitly referring to it in the pejorative and reiterating previous statements that state officials bear all the blame, Harford County Executive David Craig signed Harford County's new "rain tax" into law this week. In doing so, Craig signed off on legislation passed last month that is significantly different than what he himself had proposed two months earlier. The net effect is Harford went from potentially having one of the highest residential stormwater remediation fees in the state to one of the lowest, or at least for the next year.

While largely ignoring the trial of former U.S. Senator John Edwards, The Sun apparently found more breaking, vital news in Jenna Bush Hager and Henry Hager getting a less than $300 tax break on their second home/rental property while they live in permanent "digs in Manhattan" ("Bush kin gone but get homestead tax credit," May 1). In addition, there were lengthy details about their exact Baltimore property assessment and rental fees. Now that's breaking news. Are you kidding me?

In a nutshell, Baltimore City is demanding immediate repayment of tax credits it erroneously gave to taxpayers, often over a period of several years ("City homeowners given 30 days to repay tax credits they didn't request," April 8). We must refund their mistakes right now, or else. This is the same Baltimore City that would seize your house for non payment of water bills that were wildly inaccurate. And these mistakes were not realized until private enterprise (The Baltimore Sun) pointed them out. No wonder we lack respect for and distrust the government.

Death and taxes might be certain, but the latter changes each year. Even without major tax legislation — thanks, political gridlock — taxpayers need to be aware of even slight adjustments that could benefit them as they prepare their returns. This season, filers will come across new tax forms, a twist on an education tax break that can benefit parents of high school students, and changes in mileage reimbursements. Here are tips for lessening your tax bite and a suggestion for putting your refund to good use. Consider: First-time homebuyer credit This popular $8,000 credit expired for most people in 2010.

A bill that I worked on with my Democratic colleague, Delegate Mary-Dulany James, was recommitted back to committee. HB 1395 promoted tourism and economic growth in Harford County and would have given the Harford County Council the authority to impose a hotel rental tax, up to 6 percent. Many local businesses in the Route 40 corridor contacted me, as well as: County Executive David Craig, Mayor Mike Bennett, of Aberdeen, and Mayor Wayne Dougherty, of Havre de Grace, to support legislation for tourism and economic growth for the County. Because this is not a tax on the citizens of Harford County, but a way to support local development, I helped to get it out of committee by co-sponsoring the bill. Today, after one of our Harford County Delegates asked questions about the bill, it was sent back to the committee, where it is buried for another year The hotel rental tax would not have affected Harford County residents or individuals of lower income who usually stay in hotels with less than 25 or fewer sleeping rooms that are three miles off of the interstate.

The organizers of last year's Baltimore Grand Prix made their final payment on their overdue city tax bill this week, the state comptroller's office said Thursday. The payment comes as the city prepares for this year's three-day open-wheel racing festival from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, which is being organized by a new group of local investors and racing promoters. Baltimore Racing Development put on the inaugural IndyCar racing festival over Labor Day weekend last year. City officials expressed confidence in the racing group in the lead-up to the race, but soon afterward acknowledged that the group had fallen behind in hundreds of thousands of dollars of payments to the city and state.

The Maryland General Assembly's regular 90-day session ended in disarray Monday at midnight as legislators failed to approve an income tax measure to which their leaders had agreed. The lack of action meant that a so-called "doomsday" budget — balanced entirely through hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts — is in place for the fiscal year that begins July 1. House and Senate leaders said they would ask the governor to call a special session this week to allow them to take up a plan to increase income taxes to avoid the most severe cuts.

A bill that I worked on with my Democratic colleague, Delegate Mary-Dulany James, was recommitted back to committee. HB 1395 promoted tourism and economic growth in Harford County and would have given the Harford County Council the authority to impose a hotel rental tax, up to 6 percent. Many local businesses in the Route 40 corridor contacted me, as well as: County Executive David Craig, Mayor Mike Bennett, of Aberdeen, and Mayor Wayne Dougherty, of Havre de Grace, to support legislation for tourism and economic growth for the County. Because this is not a tax on the citizens of Harford County, but a way to support local development, I helped to get it out of committee by co-sponsoring the bill. Today, after one of our Harford County Delegates asked questions about the bill, it was sent back to the committee, where it is buried for another year The hotel rental tax would not have affected Harford County residents or individuals of lower income who usually stay in hotels with less than 25 or fewer sleeping rooms that are three miles off of the interstate.

The House of Delegates voted Friday to raise taxes on gasoline for the first time since 1992, heeding Gov. Martin O'Malley's call for an infusion of money to pay for roads, mass transit and other transportation priorities. House passage, by an unofficial vote of 76-63, sends the legislation to the Senate, where it has the strong support of President Thomas V. Mike Miller. The bill's passage was driven primarily by the votes of Democrats from Baltimore and the large urban counties.

Baltimore County residents: Feel free to get nosy about your neighbors' property taxes. A new online database from The Baltimore Sun allows users to find the assessed value and the amount of tax paid for any Baltimore County home or commercial property . The database contains numbers from the tax year that ended June 30, 2012, and gives users multiple search options. In addition to looking up a property by address, users can search by the property owner's name, the assessed value, the tax amount or the credit amount.

Bills were introduced Thursday in both chambers of the General Assembly that propose extending the deadline to apply for the Homestead Tax Credit until June 1. Many homeowners did not meet the Dec. 31 deadline, excluding them from hundreds of dollars in potential savings on their upcoming tax bill, according to elected officials and community leaders. The bills, Senate Bill 158 and House Bill 128, need a three-fifths vote in each chamber and would go into effect upon the governor's approval.

With the fiscal cliff surmounted, at least temporarily, a new Congress sworn in and Republicans licking their self-inflicted wounds, it is tempting to theorize that a new political reality has taken hold in the nation's capital - one where the American economy won't be taken hostage by the House GOP and Washington won't bounce around from one trumped-up crisis to another. The best evidence of this would be the lopsided and bipartisan votes in favor of the final tax package approved by both the House and Senate.

Today is the final day for Maryland homeowners to apply by mail for the Homestead Tax Credit, which prevents property taxes from going up more than 10 percent per year (it's a lesser percentage in most counties and Baltimore). Applications will also be accepted in person on Wednesday (read below for details).  The tax credit could save some homeowners hundreds of dollars on their July tax bill. To learn more about the credit, read the related items to the left of this post. The credit only applies to owner-occupied residences.

Louis Schechter had a what-the-heck moment when he opened his property-tax bill. Why did it go up when his assessed value was down? "I appealed my assessment and the city did lower it from $244,000 to $154,800, which is much more in line," he wrote in an email. "However, last year I had a city credit of $2875, but this year I only got a credit of $629. The proportions are way off, and I can't find the formula as to how they calculate the credit. " This question pops up every July as tax bills arrive -- at least since the market went from boom to bust.

Maryland homeowners could lose out on hundreds of dollars in tax bill savings if they miss a deadline that's a week away. Many may not realize they must sign up for the Homestead Tax Credit, which saved the average Baltimore homeowner more than $1,000 in the most recent tax year. To receive the credit in property tax bills starting this July, homeowners must sign up by Dec. 31. "When you say the words 'tax credit' to some homeowners, it doesn't really resonate what they're getting out of it," Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby said.

About 25,000 Baltimore homeowners who received the Homestead Property Tax Credit this year will lose the sometimes-large break if they don't apply for it by Dec. 31, the Baltimore City Council warned Monday. The one-time application is a relatively new requirement — the General Assembly mandated it in 2007 to cut down on ineligibility problems, setting the deadline at the end of this year to give homeowners plenty of time. But Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and other council members are worried that some residents will see their tax bills spike next July because they don't know about the requirement.