Maryland’s Republican governor to offer bill protecting state from GOP tax bill

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is promising to offer a bill to the state General Assembly to protect Marylanders from being “negatively affected” by Congress’s newly-passed GOP tax bill.

“Our goal will be to leave that money in the pockets of hardworking Marylanders,” Hogan said Wednesday, according to The Baltimore Sun. “I am confident that our partners in the General Assembly who have expressed concern over the impact of this tax reform bill will support us unanimously in protecting Marylanders who could be negatively affected.”

“Protecting taxpayers should be a bipartisan issue,” Hogan continued.

{mosads}According to the Sun, Hogan did not provide specific details about the plan, but said that it would aim to return the extra millions of dollars in revenue generated by the tax bill to Marylanders who may lose federal deductions and exemptions.

Hogan said the plan would be his “holiday gift to the people of Maryland,” according to the Sun.

Both the House and the Senate passed the GOP tax bill on Wednesday, sending the bill to President Trump’s desk and marking the first major legislative accomplishment of Trump’s presidency.

Trump touted the passage of the bill at the White House Wednesday, calling it “something special.”

“We broke every record,” Trump said. “It’s the largest, I always say the most massive, but it’s the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform … something special.”

The bill lowers the top individual tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent and slashes the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

It also increases the exemption amounts for the individual alternative minimum tax and estate tax, eliminates the ObamaCare individual mandate and limits deductions for state, local and property taxes.

Trump is expected to sign the bill into law later this month.