Marylanders’ progressive political instincts often make the Land of Pleasant Living not just more pleasant but more equitable and prosperous. Sometimes, however, progressives embrace policies that are destined to do the opposite.
 

So it is with the “Fair Share for Maryland Act of 2024.” Senate Bill 766 proposes to do a couple of laudable things but would, in fact, do several others that would damage Maryland’s economy and quality of life. As Comptroller Brooke Lierman has recently pointed out, there are “flashing yellow lights for the state’s fiscal health”; we shouldn’t turn them to red.
 

In a nutshell, this bill would make it more expensive (and therefore unwise) to locate a business (large or small) in Maryland and punish those who earn high incomes or realize capital gains here — or even simply die here rather than in a tax-friendly state. The presumption is that taking more from businesses and the rich will enable us to give more to those in need, via expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit. That presumption is false.
 

Read the full article here
 

Stephen J.K. Walters, Ph.D., (swalters@mdpolicy.org) is the author of “Boom Towns:  Restoring the Urban American Dream” and Chief Economist at the Maryland Public Policy Institute.