Maryland tax revenues for October declined 8.7 percent from the same month this past year, and the worst is yet to come, Comptroller Peter Franchot told state leaders Thursday.
There is “the strong likelihood that the poor to abysmal October results do not reflect the full effect of the marked deterioration in the nation’s economy over the past two months,” Franchot said in his monthly report to Gov. Martin O’Malley and legislative leaders.
The worst news was on sales tax revenue, which barely increased over the previous year, despite a 20 percent rate increase from 5 percent to 6 percent in January.
“Not only is October performance the worst on record except for February 1991, it reflects sales made prior to the financial market meltdown in early October and the record low of consumer confidence reached in October,” Franchot said. “It is exceedingly likely that the worst is yet to come.” – Len Lazarick
