Reply to MoCo looking at increasing income taxes for those making above $150K

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I love how staff did a table workup of the difference in [i]income taxes only[/i] when comparing the Executive's proposal to the County Council President's proposal:

Table 4: Comparing Estimated Average Changes to Tax Bill
Maryland Taxable 
Income   ||   Executive’s Proposal   ||   Council President’s 
Proposal
Less than $50,000  ||  + $22  ||  - $153
$50,000 to $149,999  ||  + $76  ||  - $454
$150,000 to $299,999  ||  + $193  ||  - $750
$300,000 to $499,999  ||  + $353  ||  - $697
More than $500,000  ||  + $1,253  ||  + $203

That's only for those who aren't owner-occupants.  When adding back the increased tax paid with elimination of the $695 ITOC, we get to:

Maryland Taxable 
Income   ||   Executive’s Proposal   ||   Council President’s 
Proposal
Less than $50,000  ||  + $22  ||  + $542
$50,000 to $149,999  ||  + $76  ||  + $241
$150,000 to $299,999  ||  + $193  ||  - $55
$300,000 to $499,999  ||  + $353  ||  - $2
More than $500,000  ||  + $1,253  ||  + $898

Great for those earning above $300k and netting $355 to their favor from Natali Fani Gonzalez & Co. when comparing the two plans.  Quite a different picture, especially for older/fixed-income owners and those struggling to make ends meet with the dream of homeownership in east county/upper central county/mildly clustered far west county.

Completely special-interest-owned ass-hats.[/quote]

The median HHI for homeowners is $177k. There are other tax credits for homeowners with low incomes and who are elderly. I certainly support expanding them. I do not support the county continuing to spend $140 million per year to subsidize homeownership for the wealthy.[/quote]

You seem to want to stick it to rich people but if you really wanted to stick it to rich people you’d keep the ITOC and raise tax rates. Getting rid of the ITOC is a 20 percent tax increase for a lot of condo owners. [b]But it amounts to much less than the Elrich tax increase for the top third of homeowners.[/b] [/quote]

You minimize the impact on the rich, but it costs the county $140 million most of which goes to households with incomes well above the median for the county because homeowners in Montgomery County have much higher incomes than renters.

It is absurd to defend this credit as "progressive" when it leaves out the 1/3 of residents that are renters. The cost is astronomical and most of it is not even helping people with even slightly low incomes. I'm so glad Fani Gonzalez recommended this.
[/quote]

Landlords can afford this tax increase to a much greater extent than homeowners. The ITOC reduces double taxation. Businesses don’t pay county income tax at all. That’s why they don’t get it.

Also, why is the ITOC the only tax break that has a budget impact calculated for it every year? What about the tax credits for developers? With the ITOC gone, they’ll be the biggest property tax credits the county has, and they’re poised to grow exponentially with the office conversion tax abatement.

Most jurisdictions (outside Maryland) charge higher property tax rates for commercial property. Montgomery County will be one of a few to charge a lower effective property tax for commercial property. Seems backwards. [/quote]
Ok, now you are just blatantly lying

Landlords pass property taxes on to renters. They are not just absorbing the costs. Landlord costs absolutely impact market rents. There are mountains of research on this.

You are implying that the local county income tax excluded rental income. Many landlords in MoCo pay the county income tax on their rental income. The ITOC is designed simply to benefit homeowners and is not intended to make the property tax "fair" between corporations and households.

The Finance Department publishes a tax expenditure report that describes the cost of every tax credit, not just to ITOC. Google is your friend 
[/quote]

I’ve seen the finance department’s tax expenditure report. Why aren’t those other tax expenditures line items in the budget with renewal votes?

You don’t seem to understand how rents are set. Rents are set based on what the market will bear. They’re not set based on input costs plus a reasonable profit. Landlords can only pass on what the market will bear, and if the market could bear higher prices, Landlords would be charging them already.

Ironically, the people who get the income tax break will be able to pay higher rents, so expect the rents to go up once that takes effect. All other things equal, landlords are going to take most of the income tax reduction through rent increases. Renters should hope Jawando wins because Friedson and Glass have been clear that they’re going to gut renter protections. [/quote]

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