The State of Maryland grants Baltimore City the authority to levy a variety of local taxes in order to provide necessary funding for civic services. The following tables detail the Fiscal 2025 local taxes and their corresponding rates.
| Property Taxes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tax | Rate | Basis |
| Real Property | $2.248 | Per $100 of assessed value |
| Personal Property | $5.62 | Per $100 of assessed value |
A Special Benefits District (SBD) is a mechanism by which property owners within a defined area can agree to impose additional property taxes on themselves in order to provide enhanced and supplemental public services. The surcharge is added to the existing property tax bill and is also calculated at a rate per $100 of assessed value.
| Property Tax Surcharges | |
|---|---|
| Special Benefits District | Surcharge Rate |
| Charles Village Community Benefits District | $0.1250 |
| Downtown Management Authority | $0.2239 |
| Midtown Benefits District | $0.1320 |
| Port Covington Community Benefits District | $0.1900 |
| Waterfront Partnership | $0.1700 |
| Tourism Improvement District (TID) | 2% of hotel gross receipts |
| York Corridor Business Improvement District | $0.2200 |
| Other Local Taxes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tax | Rate | Basis |
| Income | 3.2% | Of a City resident's taxable income |
| Transfer* | 1.5% | Of the cash consideration |
| Recordation* | $5.00 | Per $500 of actual consideration paid |
| Hotel | 9.5% | Of gross receipts |
| Admissions | 10% | Of gross receipts on taxable activities |
| Parking | 20% | Of gross receipts from lots and garages |
| Billboard | $5.00 | Per square foot of billboard |
| Billboard - Electronic | $15.00 | Per square foot of billboard with rotating images |
| Beverage Container | $0.05 | Per nonreusable container |
| Taxi | $0.25 | Per ride |
| Telephone | $4.00 | Per wireless or landline |
| Telephone - Centrex | $0.40 | Per centrex line |
* The Yield Tax, as established by Ordinance 19-233, applies to transactions greater than $1 million, with 40% of the transfer tax and 15% of the recordation tax allocated to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The Baltimore City Code mandates that the City's Energy Tax be imposed as a unit tax based on the number of units of energy delivered to users. The units are as follows: therms for natural gas, kilowatt-hours for electricity, pounds for steam, and gallons for fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas.
| User Group | Electricity (kWh) | Gas (therm) | Fuel Oil (gal) | LPG (gal) | Steam (lbs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial | 0.010480 | 0.135523 | 0.154888 | 0.189029 | 0.003296 |
| Residential | 0.003356 | 0.039831 | 0.055902 | 0.059875 | 0.000947 |
| Nonprofit | 0.007349 | 0.107658 | 0.133680 | 0.164374 | 0.001950 |