A bipartisan majority of the House of Delegates has sponsored a bill to repeal the new tax on computer services.
“It?s an issue that I think is very important to Howard County and the state,” said Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat who is vice chairman of the Health and Government Operations Committee. The county?s “economic development plan is based on information technology businesses.”
She said she spoke against the tax during the special session. The bill does not offer an alternative to replace the $200 million the tax on computer services is estimated to raise.
“I didn?t solve that problem,” Pendergrass said, though she had proposed other tax increases, such as a snack tax, last November. She said House Speaker Michael Busch told her that her repeal would be difficult without a substitute revenue measure. “I?m hoping to find a solution,” she said.
There are bills in both the House and Senate to repeal the tax. But Pendergrass? bill, HB196, has the most co-sponsors ? 38 Democrats and 34 Republicans, including 10 of the 11 Howard County delegates.
Pendergrass had heard from a number of people in the IT industry, which has formed a new Maryland Computer Services Association to fight the tax.
“I have to be involved in this thing,” said Tom Loveland, the president of the association. His Owings Mills business, Mind Over Machines, employs 50 people. “This is too important.”
The new tax reflects that people in his business were not involved enough in the process, he said. “Obviously we need to be playing down there,” Loveland said. “If we play the game, there may be an opening” to defeat the bill. He said hundreds of people have registered on the group?s Web site, MarylandNeedsIT.com.
On Tuesday night, Gov. Martin O?Malley said at a Tech Council of Maryland dinner that he would work with the council to “mitigate whatever possible downsides” may come with the tax.
“I?d like to make it work and have it understood and not have an adverse impact on the tremendous potential that we have here,” O?Malley told the group.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
