Available Credits

The State of Maryland offers two primary subsidies designed to limit property tax increases for owner-occupiers:

• Homestead Tax Credit - available to all owner-occupiers. It limits annual property taxes from assessment increases in Baltimore City to 4%.

• Homeowners Property Tax Credit - available on a graduated basis for owner-occupiers with incomes below $60,000. Limits taxes to a specified amount per year.

Depending upon your income, these two credits can have a significant impact on the growth of an owner-occupier’s annual property tax bill. See the chart below for three income scenarios in a situation where property values have doubled in a decade.

Note: the tax rises in the chart are modeled after a real scenario that occured in Washington from 2011-2021.

Important figures to know from the chart:

- $30,000 is the median individual annual income in Baltimore City - they saw affectively no property tax increase over the 10 years

- $50,000 is the median household annual income in Baltimore City - they saw a property tax increase of half of the increase in value of their property

- $60,000 is the income limit for eligibility for the Homeowners Property Tax Credit Program - households above this limit saw an increase in property taxes that nearly mirrored the increase in property value

Read here how 2022 home value assessments are predicted to rise 12%

Historic Tax Credits

There are a number of Historic Revitalization Tax Credit Programs in the State of Maryland, however only about a quarter of the focus area is located in an eligible National Register Historic District (see the eligibility map here). HUB West Baltimore plans to begin the application process in 2022 for applying for historic tax credit eligibility for the entirety of the focus area. Until then though, historic tax credit cases will need to be made on an individual basis.