It’s Time for the Maryland Inheritance Tax to Die.

Steven Messmer

The Maryland inheritance tax is not a tax on the wealthy. It is a tax on non-wealthy people dying without having children or without being married. It must be repealed, but it is complex, obscure, and politically entangled. While every serious analysis has condemned the inheritance tax, there has not been a scholarly analysis of the tax in thirty years. Previous work has focused on how the tax is cumbersome and regressive, but this Paper adds the argument that it discriminates based on family composition. This Paper also builds on prior work by placing the Maryland inheritance tax within the broader history of death taxes in the United States, analyzing its deficiencies using recent data, and addressing the practical details of repeal.