income tax

A bipartisan plan to avoid federal spending reductions and tax increases that would hit Maryland especially hard won final approval Tuesday night in the House of Representatives even as outside groups warned that the bill would simply delay difficult decisions for a few months.

Regardless of whether the president and Congress strike a deal or take the nation headfirst over the "fiscal cliff," federal taxes for some Marylanders will increase next year — and under some scenarios the pain could be worse than in other states.

For the first time since a recession gripped the country in 2008, Maryland is approaching a General Assembly session with good news about its operating budget: Neither tax increases nor drastic budget cuts are likely to be needed.

Maryland may have closed out the fiscal year $229 million ahead, but that's no surplus

Comptroller says state needs to find efficiencies, hold the line on taxes

Maryland House of Delegates must resist the temptation to give a generous tax break to gaming companies on the heels of raising income taxes

High-earners in Maryland will feel a financial pinch beginning Sunday, when employers boost paycheck withholdings to accommodate higher income tax rates. The tax increase is one of hundreds of new laws taking effect with the July 1 start of the state's fiscal year.

A Sun op-ed underestimates the impact of the alternative minimum tax on many workers.

How 21,000 wealthy Americans managed to avoid owing federal income taxes.

Are Maryland lawmakers seriously contemplating giving out-of-state casino operators a major tax break just weeks after raising income taxes?

Maryland will offer tax relief on mortgage debt forgiveness

Claims that the U.S. rich pay taxes to support 'freeloaders' is an outright lie

It's time for tax reform that fairly reflects people's actual earnings and expenditures

The General Assembly's speedy embrace of Gov. Martin O'Malley's income tax increases this week cleaned up a political mess in Annapolis, but the rate hikes could come back to haunt the Democrat if he seeks national office when his time in the governor's mansion is up.

After beating back a series of challenges in the House, lawmakers are poised to give final approval Wednesday to a plan to raise the state income tax to fund schools, police and Medicaid.

A carefully choreographed strategy to raise state income taxes to stave off so-called Doomsday budget cuts faces a challenge in the General Assembly after several Democrats defied party leaders with a proposal to raise the sales tax instead.

A Maryland family making more than $175,000 will pay at least $254 more in income taxes this year under a revenue-raising plan the Maryland General Assembly is expected to take up when they convene for special session on Monday.

The 2012 legislative session came to a close Monday night. Here is what passed and what it means for residents

Pushing legislative brinkmanship to its limits, the General Assembly will go into the last scheduled day of its 90-day session Monday without an agreement on the one thing it must get done under Maryland's Constitution: pass a balanced budget.

Harford County delegates and senators oppose income tax, gas increase in state budget

Dan Rodricks lauds Maryland's 'progressive' tax system, but he ignores all the loopholes for the wealthy.

The House of Delegates' version of Maryland's budget cuts more and taxes less than the Senate spending plan.

State Sen. Bobby Zirkin takes exception to Dan Rodricks' column on his opposition to a new "millionaires tax."

A Maryland House committee voted Monday to raise income taxes — but by a significantly smaller amount than either Gov. Martin O'Malley or the Senate has proposed.

House cuts Senate's income tax hike in half

A plan adopted by the Maryland Senate may be unique among the 50 states in how it would handle income taxes for high earners, and it would violate the principle that a dollar earned should not cost more than a dollar in taxes.

The state Senate voted Thursday to significantly raise taxes on Marylanders earning half a million dollars or more — prompting complaints that liberals were bent on launching class warfare in the state.

Senate plows through budget, turning back GOP

Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to make a personal, perhaps quixotic pitch Wednesday for what could be the least popular proposal in Annapolis this year: raising the tax on gasoline.

Senate committee crafts an elegant solution to Maryland's education funding conundrum but does it ask too much of taxpayers?

Combined reporting: Instead of tinkering around the edges of reform, General Assembly should take a comprehensive approach to tax avoidance

Determined to avoid deep cuts to state spending, a Senate committee voted Thursday to approve an increase of roughly one-quarter of a percent in Maryland's income tax rate and to shift part of the state's teacher pension costs to the counties, though at a more gradual pace than proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Senators from Baltimore and the state's largest counties reacted with dismay Tuesday as the General Assembly's chief policy analyst laid out the details of what has been dubbed "the doomsday budget."

Contrary to what Realtors say, the mortgage interest deduction has done little to promote homeownership.

Gov. Martin O'Malley issued a rousing call for an aggressive program to invest in jobs and honor "human dignity" for families – whether the parents are gay or straight – in an upbeat State of the State Address Wednesday.

Is it right that almost half of Americans pay no income tax?

County executives, education advocates, Maryland hospitals and Republican leaders all railed against Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed budget Wednesday as critics began making their case against the $36 billion spending plan

O'Malley's spending proposal will be tough to pass, but it moves the state toward fiscal sustainability without unduly burdening the poor.

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday defended his proposal to ask 20 percent of Marylanders to pay more income taxes, calling his budget plan "a balanced approach" that preserves funding for priorities such as education

Rosenberg suggests sliding scale based on owners' income: "People are not going to have faith in a system that is unfair."

Howard County income tax collections — the second largest source of revenue — continues to increase, which will likely mean not drastic budget shortfall this coming year.

Robert Reich writes that the flat tax is neither fair nor simple and would serve merely to make the poor pay more and the rich pay less.

Maryland finished the fiscal year with $990 million in unspent funds, showing an end-of-year surplus that was about 50 percent higher than expected, according to a memo obtained by The Sun.

Converting 401(k) accounts into annuities could be mutually beneficial

In Howard County, seeds of economic optimism