CURRAN FILES MOTION IN D.C. COMMUTER TAX CASE

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., announced today that his Office has filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia, in which the District seeks permission to tax the incomes of non-resident commuters who work in D.C., but live in Maryland and neighboring states. The Motion filed today argues that the District has not stated enough facts to justify the case proceeding.

Eighteen residents of the District were joined by the D.C. Council, Mayor Anthony Williams and all Council members in filing the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 24.

Approximately 280,000 Maryland residents commute to work in the District. If the suit is successful, Maryland and Virginia commuters would pay income tax to D.C. and claim a credit on their state taxes. It is estimated that a commuter tax would redirect between $500 million and $1.4 billion from the treasuries of neighboring states to the District's.

"This suit directly impacts the financial health of Maryland," Attorney General Curran said. "We cannot sit silently while the District asks the federal Court to allow it to take hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars out of the Maryland treasury."

The District has 60 days from today to file a response. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States are also expected to file a Motion To Dismiss the suit today.

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