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SB 1042

Prince George's County - Property Tax Credit for Grocery Stores - Alterations

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Joanne Benson

Requires PG County to grant a personal-property tax credit for eligible grocery stores in healthy-food priority areas, for new builds or major renovations, capped at annual tax.

Hearing 4/04 at 2:40 p.m.
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Bill Summary · SB 1042

SB 1042 — Prince George’s County — Property Tax Credit for Grocery Stores (Alterations)

Status: Hearing scheduled April 4, 2025 at 2:40 p.m.
Introduced: January 31, 2025 — Sponsor: Senator Benson
Companion bill: HB 2658

Purpose

The bill converts an existing optional county tax incentive into a required one: it amends Maryland law to require (rather than permit) the governing body of Prince George’s County to enact a property tax credit for certain grocery stores located in designated “healthy food priority areas.” The intent is to promote new grocery store construction or substantial renovations in areas with limited access to healthy foods.

Key provisions

  • Rewrites Tax‑Property §9–318(i) to change the county’s role from authorized (“may”) to mandated (“shall”) to grant the tax credit by local law.
  • Credit scope: applies to the county property tax imposed on personal property owned by qualifying grocery stores.
  • Eligibility:
    • “Grocery store” is defined as a store with all major food departments (produce, meat, seafood, dairy, canned/packaged goods), with >50% of sales from food and >50% of floor space dedicated to food sales.
    • “Eligible construction” means building a new grocery store or a substantial renovation of an existing grocery store.
    • The store must be located in a “healthy food priority area” as designated by Prince George’s County.
  • County responsibilities and powers:
    • The county must define, by local ordinance, what constitutes a healthy food priority area based on factors such as availability of fresh foods, resident income levels, transportation needs, public transit availability, municipal input, and other relevant factors.
    • The county may (by law) set cumulative limits on credits, additional eligibility criteria, stricter definitions of eligible construction, and other implementation provisions.
  • Limitation: For any taxable year, the credit may not exceed the amount of property tax imposed on the personal property of the grocery store for that year.

Affected parties

  • Directly affected: grocery stores in Prince George’s County that complete eligible construction and are located in county‑designated healthy food priority areas.
  • Indirectly affected: county taxpayers/government (through potential foregone revenue) and local communities with improved grocery access.

Fiscal and administrative impact

  • State: no fiscal effect.
  • Local (Prince George’s County): Fiscal note reports no effect because the county already enacted the credit in November 2023; to date no credits have been issued. However, if credits are claimed in the future, the county would forgo an amount of personal property tax (subject to any local limits set by ordinance).
  • Small business: fiscal note indicates no statewide small business impact; eligible grocery stores could benefit from reduced personal property tax liability.

Effective date and applicability

  • Bill takes effect June 1, 2025.
  • Applies to taxable years beginning after June 30, 2025.

Procedural notes

  • Hearing scheduled 4/04/2025 at 2:40 p.m. (Budget & Taxation).
  • Companion legislation: HB 2658.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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