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The goose that has been laying the golden egg in Maryland politics as of late has been the computer services industry. The state has seen unprecedented growth in this industry since 2001 -- largely due to increased Federal spending on IT services required by the War on Terror -- but it all trickles down to provide businesses in and around the state outstanding services and spin-off businesses. It also has dramatically increased income tax collections, since these employees (like myself) typically earn more than manufacturing and government jobs.
But O'Guvnah's computer services sales tax -- added in the dark hours of the Special Session by his dark lords in the Senate and House -- are about to kill that goose.
The simple fact is that Maryland is a small state, and technology businesses do not necessarily need to be located here to do business here. Heck, I work for a marketing services firm in FLORIDA, and spend 98% of my time in Maryland at my house doing the work I do. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Delaware are already beginning to market to technology firms located in Maryland. York is an ideal location. Northern Virginia is just as good. And Dover & Wilmington are great places too, where you won't be subject to the 6% sales tax.
What O'Guvnah does not realize is that most technology companies in Maryland don't do business with the state -- for various reasons -- and moving over the state line doesn't change their ability to do business here. Moreover, he refuses to accept that increased energy costs AND the new 6% sales tax are making technology companies uncompetitive in the larger mid-Atlantic market.
Unlike landscapers, property managers, and massage parlors, the IT industry in Maryland doesn't have a large lobbying group, so they have no legislators sucking on the teat. And O'Guvnah can probably count on one hand the number of high-tech executives he knows. If any of them he counted as friends, that number is probably less now.
But what is sure is this: Maryland will see an exodus of these companies in the coming years, and with them, higher-paying jobs. That will also hurt Maryland's ability to compete for company relocations, as the quality of the workforce will shrink. Remember that most developers also do side-work (whether their companies know it or not). Requiring independent developers doing side work to file for a Sales & Use Tax certificate will probably push a number of them away, or out of state.
I hope the goose is hiding, because O'Guv is on the warpath.