Maryland Computer Services SALES Tax – Repeal It!
January 27th, 2008
The State of Maryland’s elected delegates, in the recent special session to come up with another $200 million in income this past November of 2007, passed last minute legislation to levy a six percent ‘service tax’ on the Computer Service industry.
During its November 2007 special session the Maryland General Assembly enacted this legislation to expand the state’s sales tax to computer services to bring more revenue to the state to cover the budget deficit. The new law takes affect July 1, 2008.
This is like BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS IT! If such legislation stands, the ultimate result will be the decline of the IT industry in the State of Maryland, which is currently one of the fastest growing industries. Computer related businesses will lose business, and many will simply be forced to relocate to another nearby state to remain competitive. One shudders to think that our elected officials will allow such a last minute inclusion in the tax revenue grab to stand and become effective on July 1, 2008.
Fortunately, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, and the Tech Council of Maryland have joined together to repeal the computer services sales tax during the 2008 General Assembly Session. This pending tax will have a very negative impact on small businesses in Maryland and the State just needs to look elsewhere for this income or REDUCE SPENDING!!!!!!! Get involved by jumping over to the Maryland FIGHT THE TECH TAX coalition web site and voicing your opposition to this irresponsible legislation.
We ( At The Beach Enterprises Inc., ATB Internet Group ), provide “Computer Related Services” for individuals, companies and organizations spread throughout the USA, including Hawaii, Florida, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Illinois, etc.. If this tax bill goes into affect on July 1, 2008, we would seriously have to consider relocating across the state line into Delaware, otherwise, we would be at a competitive disadvantage with computer services companies in surrounding states.
On a POSITIVE NOTE, announced Jan 23, 2008, Seventy-two of the 141 members of the Maryland House of Delegates have co-sponsored House Bill 196 (HB 196) legislation to repeal the computer services sales tax enacted during the Legislature’s November 2007 special session. Business organizations around the state, such as the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, the Tech Council of Maryland, and the Maryland Computer Services Association (MCSA), are working closely together to secure repeal of this tax. Read about it on the Maryland Computer Services Association web site – News Flash!.
I also have news from State Senator Lowell Stoltfus, that he is co-sponsoring a bill to REPEAL this proposed computer services tax. Also, there appear to be a few other related bills since proposed to repeal and or amend the initial sales tax on computer services bill. as published by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. Let us hope that rational thinking prevails and the bill is repealed in it’s entirety.
UPDATE: Feb 7th 2008 - Maryland Daily Record reports Senate President apposes any rollback of computer sales tax. Get the entire article from the Maryland Daily Record here – click. Spread the word to continue to express our opposition to this revenue tax bill. Get involved by jumping over to the Maryland FIGHT THE TECH TAX coalition web site and voicing your opposition to this irresponsible legislation.
UPDATE: Feb 8th, 2008 - Published Feb 7th, 2008 in the Annapolis Gazette News … on their web site ..
Business owners urged to unite in effort to give new tech tax the ax. READ IT ! It get’s to the heart of this onerous tax legislation! This is a down to earth “ALERT” … I really think the proponents of this particular tax really do not understand the significant negative impact of said proposed and enacted tax! so I AGREE .. it needs to be AXED !!!!! Small and Medium size businesses are already impacted by economic conditions and certainly the tax would indeed force IT companies to “depart Maryland” for friendlier business conditions which allow them to operate competitively. It also affects the cost of doing business for most every business in Maryland!
UPDATE: Posted Feb 21, 2008 – Maryland Chamber of Commerce announces ” Save Maryland IT Day” – Feb 27th, 2008 – Media and Legislator Event Scheduled to help educate the public and legislators regarding the negative impact of the proposed and enacted Sales Tax on Computer Services. DETAILS – CLICK HERE TO THE MARYLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WEB SITE.
FOR ADDITIONAL editorial comment, read these recent articles published by the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post relating to this apparent last minute money GRAB for the revenue pot by the Maryland State Legislators.
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