As reported by MarylandReporter.com, the Greater Baltimore Committee recently released a report on Maryland’s competitiveness. The report, based on a survey of 250 CEOs and a smaller June conference, found that tax reform is the number one priority for Maryland’s business sector.  From the article:

“Maryland’s tax structure stands out as our state’s single, most-cited business-climate deficiency in the opinion of chief executives who participated in the GBC’s Chesapeake Conference and in the majority of published business climate rankings, most of which rank Maryland high in other categories,” said the report’s executive summary.”It is the ‘elephant in the room’ in any discussion of Maryland’s business competitiveness and it detracts from the state’s many significant strengths as a business location.”

The report identified the following potential goal.

A key potential goal of such restructuring could be to find a way to reduce the state’s personal income tax rates, as applied to small business entities including sole proprietorships, Sub-chapter S corporations, LLCs and other business entities whose earnings are “passed through” to the income tax returns of individuals owning the businesses.

Business executives and economic development experts in Maryland say that current state taxes on “pass through” earnings are a significant impediment to business development.

In addition to tax reform, the report lists nine other priorities ranging from transportation, regulatory reform, and K-12 education.