As reported by the Cumberland Times-News, Senator George Edwards plans to introduce tax credit legislation to stimulate local economies. From the article, the program is designed to

…stimulate business growth in Maryland’s rural areas through major incentives, including removing state property and business taxes for a 10-year period for qualified businesses.

The program, which is based on a similar program in New York, would be statewide, but the main areas targeted would be Allegany, Garrett, and Washington Counties and the lower Eastern Shore. These areas have the highest unemployment and lowest median income.

The plan says if a business has 20 employees and decides to build a new building, it won’t pay sales tax on the material to construct the building. Once the building is constructed, there will be no property tax assessed on the state or local level for 10 years.

If this new program is implemented, the existing One Maryland Tax Credit program would be phased out.