Jay Hancock from the Baltimore Sun posted an item to his blog about the Governor’s corporate tax announcement.

A Chamber member pointed out that the examples he uses to make his point have already been addressed by the State of Maryland.

The Wal-Mart example he uses in the first paragraph describes a captive REIT situation. Last session, the General Assembly addressed this issue. The Maryland Chamber supported the bill.

The holding company example in the New York quote was addressed in 2004. Legislation, HB 297, was passed to authorize the Comptroller to, “allocate income, deductions, credits, or allowances between and among two or more organizations under specified circumstances.”

Combined reporting is not a “loophole closer.” It’s a fundamentally different system of computing taxes with a new set of problems. Some employers will pay more. Others will pay less.