MLA Fights For-Hire Sales Tax

Linthicum Heights, Md.—The Maryland Limousine Association (MLA) met this November to discuss Baltimore’s new tax that takes 25 cents per passenger for trips made by any vehicle holding 14 passengers or under in the city.

MLA Steering Committee Member Mark Thistle of FreedomCar updated MLA members on the tax, which was enacted in October. Since then, Thistle—along with MLA President Joanna Fridinger of The Limo Lady and Dwight Kines of Veolia Transportation—have formed the Baltimore Transportation Coalition (BTC) and attracted much attention to the issue from local media outlets.

"They really didn’t put a lot of thought into the way our industry works," says Fridinger, who notes that operators do not have capabilities to efficiently keep track of every time a run goes in or out of Baltimore. Furthermore, she states one of the larger BTC operators calculated that they would have to pay 50 cents for every 25 cents that goes to the city in determining if a pick-up or drop-off is located within the city’s limits.

Baltimore Councilperson Mary Pat Clarke recently proposed a 180-day delay on the tax to give more preparation time to operators who were not made aware of the new law until after it had already been implemented. In that time—from January to June—operators will be asked to pay an estimated tax.

Visit mdlimoassoc.org for more information.

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