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'Tech Tax' Repeal Likely to Clear Md. Senate Panel
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He said in an interview yesterday that he still plans to push his colleagues to cut as much as possible from the budget. But he left the door open to supporting the surcharge, saying: "If they can't get all the way with cuts, I will be amenable to that."
Zirkin said that he had several conversations with O'Malley about the issue over the weekend and yesterday and that his priority is getting the tech tax repealed.
"If we don't repeal it, we will entirely ruin an entire sector of our economy," he said, calling the tax "about as dumb an idea as I can think of."
Zirkin and Madaleno were among the lawmakers targeted in an e-mail circulated yesterday by the Maryland Computer Services Association, which was formed in response to the passage of the tech tax.
The e-mail included pictures of Zirkin and Madaleno and their office numbers and suggested scripts for people to read when they call.
"We need to make a MAJOR IMPRESSION on these people today," the e-mail said. "Delivering a head-turning volume of calls. And melting their telephones into puddles of smoking plastic. Please help!"
An aide to Madaleno said the office was inundated with calls yesterday.
Madaleno and Zirkin represent counties that would be disproportionately affected by the imposition of a millionaires tax.
Under O'Malley's plan, the state would apply a new 6.25 percent rate to taxable income in excess of $1 million. The state's top marginal rate is 5.5 percent.
In 2005, 6,150 of the state's 2.6 million filers reported personal taxable income of more than $1 million, according to the comptroller's office. Of those, 2,535, or 41 percent, resided in Montgomery. The second highest total was in Baltimore County, which had 1,011 filers reporting more than $1 million.
Zirkin said those numbers had nothing to do with his stance on the issue.
Madaleno echoed arguments by other Montgomery officials, who have suggested that a higher income tax rate could prompt people who are creating jobs in the county to move. He suggested making cuts in transportation funding to repeal the tech tax.
