Prince George's delegates delay action on bill to exempt small alcohol manufacturers from personal property taxes

At a meeting of the County Affairs Committee of the Prince George's County House Delegation, delegates deferred action on House Bill 1243, a proposal to exempt personal property owned by manufacturing businesses with 50 or fewer employees from local personal property taxes. An amendment under consideration narrows the exemption to businesses holding a manufacturer's license under subtitle 2 of title 2 of the Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis Articles — effectively breweries, distilleries and wineries.

Counsel read the bill synopsis and described the amendment that limits the exemption to holders of a manufacturer's license. Speaker Penielnick pressed for basic data before the committee moves forward: "Do we know how many businesses this would affect?" Penielnick said, and added that members need a fiscal estimate. Counsel responded that the fiscal note was written before the amendment and that an updated estimate and counts were not yet available: "So we can't say." The committee agreed it needs those numbers before any vote.

Julie Verratti, co-founder of Denizen's Brewing Company in Riverdale Park, told delegates that municipal personal property taxes on brewing equipment impose substantial costs on small alcohol manufacturers. Verratti said her company employs about 25 people and described recent tax bills: county personal property bills she cited ranged from roughly $4,000 to $23,000 in different years, while municipal bills have been as high as $19,000. "We literally can't afford it," Verratti said, adding that the tax burden consumes about "1 to 2% of our revenue" and can discourage startups from locating in Prince George's County.

Committee members discussed tailoring the exemption so it would not effectively legislate for a single business or produce large revenue losses by sweeping in many municipalities. Speaker Penielnick suggested drafting targeted language to address businesses that face overlapping municipal levies; Delegate Julian Ivy said he would work with staff and with "Miss Michael" on amendments and run proposed language past Penielnick's office before the end of the week.

No formal vote was taken. Delegates directed staff to provide updated counts of affected businesses and an amended fiscal estimate and to prepare amendment language; the bill was kept on the committee agenda for next week's meeting and public hearing. The chair adjourned the session.