The Maryland Chamber will today testify in opposition to a sweeping tax credit disclosure bill (SB 614) that would divulge proprietary business data, damage Maryland’s business climate, and be an administrative nightmare for the agencies to compile.

The legislation would require the Department of Assessments and taxation and the Department of Business and Economic Development to compile and publish extensive reports that detail certain business tax credits, exemptions, and development subsidies. Businesses that receive these benefits would have to provide detailed information about their payrolls and health care benefits.

The Chamber strongly opposes this bill because it would:

Disclose Confidential Tax Information: The bill’s fiscal note warns that “disclosure of confidential tax data could result in the loss of access to Internal Revenue Service data, which could in turn hinder tax compliance measures and intimately cost the State a significant amount of revenues.”

The bill is too Vague and Sweeping in Scope: The bill is so sweeping and ill-defined in its terms that no one knows exactly what existing tax provisions would be subject to its disclosure requirements.

Disclosure of Proprietary Business Information: Data that is proprietary and confidential under current state and federal law would be disclosed by this bill, damaging the State’s efforts to attract new businesses.

The Bill is Impossible to Administer: The bill assumes, incorrectly, that businesses routinely apply for these tax provisions. In fact, many of the tax provisions exist by operation of law and require no application or annual reporting y the affected business.

For more information, view the complete position statement here (pdf).