After a long afternoon of negotiations behind closed doors, a new version of a bill that could bring a sixth slots casino to Prince George’s County and table games to all of the state’s casinos could have made its way to the floor of the House of Delegates hours before the end of the legislative session.
Read MoreA proposal to ease estate taxes on family farms met little opposition in the House Ways and Means Committee, but a bill to apply the 6% sales tax to snack foods drew fierce opposition.
Read MoreRequiring 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.
Read MoreA key House committee might finally vote on giving tax relief to businesses that donate to programs for private schools, its chairwoman says, after shelving the proposal for the past two years.
Read MoreMaryland 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.
Read MoreMaryland’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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