Maryland Ranks 41st in Total Taxes as a Percent of Personal Income

The Census Bureau recently released its State and Local Government Finance Summary for 2011, which reports the findings from its annual survey on the revenues, expenditures, debt, and assets of state and local governments. The 2011 figures showed a historic high of $3.4 trillion in state and local government revenues, which was a full 8.4 percent increase over 2010. Governments also increased their spending in aggregate by 1.5 percent, reaching $3.2 trillion that year. 

At the state level, Maryland collected over $29 billion in state and local taxes, ranking 14th highest among the states. Maryland's aggregate total for state and local governments ranked 8th in personal income revenue, 13th in corporate income tax revenue, 17th for property tax receipts, and 25th for general sales taxes.

Roughly 36.5 percent of tax revenue in Maryland came from income taxes in 2011, which earned it a ranking of 2nd most reliant on the personal income tax for revenue (Oregon state and local governments ranked 1st, at 39 percent). This partly reflects state's practice of allowing local governments to share in the income tax, mainly for the purpose of funding local schools. Many argue that heavy reliance on the income tax is a fairer system of collecting government revenue, as it is a less regressive tax source that more accurately reflects an individual's ability to pay for the general welfare.

Also, Maryland's relatively high total of personal income taxes collective should be rather unsurprising when considering the state's wealth. Maryland boasts the fifth highest personal income per capita among the states ($49,424). 

When ranked as a percent of personal income, Maryland's position moves substantially down the list. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' tabulations of the Census report data, the state ranked 39th highest for state and local personal income tax as a percent of personal income and 45th for corporate income tax and property tax as a percent of personal income. Overall for total taxes as a percent of personal income, Maryland ranked near the bottom at 41st place among the states.