Maryland Comptroller Backs Estate Tax Change

Comptroller Peter Franchot is the latest Democrat to announce support for changing Maryland’s estate tax to match the federal government's. 

Franchot said he believesMaryland's estate tax, which is currently 16 percent on estates valued at more than $1 million, needs to be aligned with the federal tax. The federal government exempts the first $5.25 million of an estate, but taxes up to 40 percent on estates valued at more than that amount, according to a news release from the comptroller’s office.

“The large gap between Maryland and the federal estate tax exemption creates inconsistencies for family planning and an uncompetitive environment with neighboring states,” Franchot said in the release. “This doesn’t just benefit the families it would directly affect, either. It’s about attracting entrepreneurs and the jobs they bring with them and keeping the people who so often are bedrock philanthropists who give so much back to our communities.”

Last week, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Bush both said that they were in favor of coupling the state’s estate tax with the federal tax.  

In a list recently released by Phoenix Marketing International,Maryland has the highest concentration of millionaires per capitawith 7.7 percent of households with investable assets of more than $1 million, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.     

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