Tag: House Ways and Means Committee

Delegates debate requiring photo ID to vote

Requiring voters to show identification in order to vote is a necessary and easy way to prevent voter fraud, Del. Kathy Afzali told her colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee, but other delegates and voter advocates argued that the requirement would prevent people from voting.

Afzali, a freshman Frederick County Republican, has proposed a bill that would require voters to present government-issued photo ID to verify their identity and address in order to cast a ballot. Voters who do not have photo ID, or who have moved and have a different address than the one on their ID, would be allowed to cast provisional ballots.

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State could lose revenues in multi-state tax compact

Maryland would forgo millions of dollars in tax revenue if it joined a 23-state compact aimed at collecting sales tax from “remote sellers” like Amazon.com, according to a report issued to lawmakers.

The report from Comptroller Peter Franchot’s office said the state would be short by up to $66.3 million next year if it adopted a “streamlined sales tax” standard.

Maryland has been waiting on federal action before it changes the way it collects the sales tax, largely because states can’t uniformly charge tax on Internet and mail-order transactions without a broad legal authorization by Congress.

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Tax amnesty bringing in much more than expected

Maryland’s two-month tax amnesty program that ran last year has been nearly three times as effective as was previously expected, tax officials told lawmakers Wednesday.

Deputy Comptroller Linda Tanton said during a briefing for the House Ways and Means Committee that the amnesty has raised about $26 million, and is still bringing in money as taxpayers continue to pay off their old debts. She estimated that the state would haul in another $5 million.

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