Kasemeyer on Rain Tax: 'It's Not Over Yet'

Anyone upset by the implementation of the so-called rain tax can take heart. 

The Maryland General Assembly may yet tinker with it, according to Sen. Ed Kasemeyer, chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.

"I think it's not over yet," Kasemeyer told the Howard County Chamber of Commerce during a meeting late last month. "As this thing plays out, you'll see something from the legislature."

Kasemeyer's comments were captured on video and posted to YouTube.

Of the 10 jurisdictions affected by the law, nearly all have enacted a different fee on residents.

In April, the Harford County Council approved a $12.50 fee per residential property, with credits up to 100 percent of the fee for remediation. That fee could rise after the first year. Commercial property owners will be charged 70 cents per 500 square feet for the first year, but that fee could also change next year, according to county officials.

The fee does not currently affect residents within the city limits of Aberdeen, Bel Air or Havre de Grace, due to the way the state law was written, according to county officials.

The fee will begin popping up as an itemized charge on property tax bills later this month.

Kasemeyer, who voted in 2012 for the bill that created the tax, said the bill may have been enacted too quickly.

[See how your senator or delegates voted for the bill.]

"I think it should have been delayed, frankly, to make it more uniform, to understand the impact on nonprofits, impact on business," Kasemeyer said.