(a) Generally. The County Council for Montgomery County is hereby empowered and authorized to have and exercise, within the limits of the County, in addition to any and all taxing powers heretofore granted by the General Assembly, the power to tax to the same extent as the state has or could exercise said power within the limits of the County as a part of its general taxing power, which includes the power to impose and provide for the collection of development impact taxes for financing, in whole or in part, the capital costs of additional or expanded public transportation facilities required to accommodate new construction or development; and to provide by resolution for the imposition, assessment, levy and collection of any tax or taxes authorized by this Section; and from time to time to grant exemptions and to modify or repeal existing or future exemptions.
(b) Exceptions. Provided, that the Council shall not have the power to impose any tax upon any alcoholic beverages, intangible personal property or upon the subject matter of Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957, Sections 135 to 157 of Article 56 (Gasoline Tax); Sections 3-601.1, 3-801 to 3-824, 11-706, 14-112 of Article 66 1/2 (Motor Vehicle Registration); Section 3-831 of Article 66 1/2 (Titling Tax); Sections 181 to 190 of Article 56 and Section 273 of Article 81 (Motor Vehicle Taxation); Section 9(32) of Article 81 (Class A and Class D Motor Vehicles); Sections 279 to 323 of Article 81 (Tax on Incomes); Article 78B (Horseracing and Pari-mutuel Betting); Sections 194 and 195 of Article 81 (Bonus Tax); Sections 197 to 201 of Article 81 (Tax on Franchise to a Corporation); Sections 129 and 130 of Article 23 (Recording Corporate Papers); Section 128 of Article 81 (Deposits of Savings Banks); Sections 135 to 143 of Article 81 (Insurance Premiums); Sections 149 to 193 of Article 81 (Inheritances); Article 62A (Estate Tax); or Section 144 of Article 81 (Tax on Commissions of Executors and Administrators); or Sections 431 to 464 of Article 81 (State Tobacco Tax Act) or Sections 12-A and 12-B of Article 81 (Sales Tax and Gross Receipt Tax on Advertising, etc.) to the extent applicable; or any other tax prohibited to a political subdivision of this state by any applicable statewide law; nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize the County to impose a tax upon the gross receipts of any person in the County; provided, however, that the County in taxing the receipts, from motor vehicle operations, may only tax receipts from operations of motor vehicles having a permit from the Public Service Commission of Maryland authorizing both the taking on and discharging of passengers at more than one point within the County and/or the transportation of passengers between 2 or more points within the County.
(c) Advertisement required. On or after June 1, 1963, no tax shall be levied or imposed by the County pursuant to any of the provisions of this Section unless the levy or imposition of the tax is advertised for 3 consecutive weeks in 2 newspapers having a general circulation in the County. After such advertising a public hearing shall be held concerning the levy and imposition of such tax. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any tax levied and imposed prior to June 1, 1963.
(d) (1) From the revenues derived from any hotel and motel room rental tax imposed by the County, the County shall distribute 50% of the revenue attributable to a hotel or motel located in a municipal corporation or in a special taxing district created by the General Assembly to the Municipal Corporation or special taxing district.
(2) Paragraph (1) of this subsection shall apply only to tax revenues generated from hotels and motels located in any area that is added to the County by an alteration of the boundary line between Montgomery County and any other County after July 1, 1995.
(e) The Council may not impose a tax on the sale of a right to occupy a room or lodgings as a transient guest at a dormitory or other lodging facility that:
(1) is operated solely in support of the headquarters, a training facility, a conference facility, an awards facility, or the campus of a corporation or other organization;
(2) provides lodging solely for employees, contractors, vendors, and other invitees of the corporation that owns the dormitory or lodging facility; and
(3) does not offer lodging services to the general public. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, §2-129; 1963, ch. 808, § 1; 1990, ch. 707, § 1; 1995, ch. 55, § 1; 2013, ch. 510, §1.)
Editor's note—In GenOn Mid-Atlantic v. Montgomery County, 650 F.3d 1021 (2011), the Court cited Section 52-17 in declaring the carbon emissions tax in Sec. 52-96 to be a regulatory fee.
In Montgomery County v. Maryland Soft Drink Ass’n., Inc., 281 Md. 116, 377 A.2d 486 (1977), the court upheld the constitutionality of the Maryland General Assembly's grant to the County (codified in § 52-17) of the broad power to impose excise taxes (non-property taxes) in addition to the power of chartered counties to impose property taxes set forth in the Express Powers Act, Md. Code Ann., Art. 25A, § 5(O). The same broad taxing power was granted by the General Assembly to Baltimore City and Baltimore County and this was confirmed in Hampton Associates v. Baltimore County, 66 Md. App. 551, 558, 505 A.2d 537 (1986), cert. denied, 307 Md. 406, 514 A.2d 24 (1986), Kimball-Tyler v. Balto. City, 214 Md. 86, 92, 96, 133 A.2d 433 (1957), State Tax Commission v. Armco, 226 Md. 533, 544-545, 174 A.2d 327 (1961). The Maryland appellate court held that the County Council had the authority to impose the development impact tax under ch. 808, Laws of 1963, codified in §§ 52-47 through 52-59 of the County Code, in Montgomery County v. Waters Landing Limited Partnership, 99 Md. App. 1, 635 A.2d 48, aff’d., 337 Md. 15, 650 A2d 712 (1994).
Many of the laws referenced in Sec. 52-17(b) have been repealed or moved to a different section of the Annotated Code of Maryland, as follows: Art. 56, §§ 135 to 157 (Gasoline Tax) appear in Tax-Gen. § 9-101 et seq.; Art. 66 ½, §§ 3-601.1, 3-801 to 3-824, 11-706, and 14-112 (Motor Vehicle Registration) appear in Transp. §§ 13- 623, 13-617, 13-901 to 13-946, 21-706, and 22-228; Art. 66 ½, § 3-831 (Titling Tax) appears in Transp. §§ 13-809 to 13-811 and 13-814; Art. 81, § 273 (Motor Vehicle Taxation) was repealed in 1981; Art. 81, § 9(32) (Class A and Class D Motor Vehicles) appears generally in Tax Prop., Title 7; Art. 81, §§ 279 to 323 (Tax on Incomes) appear in Tax-Gen., Titles 10 and 13, Nat. Res. § 5-219, Corp. & Assns. §§ 1-203, 8-204, and 8-403, and Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-106; Art. 78B (Horseracing and Pari-mutuel Betting) appears in the Bus. Reg. Art.; Art. 81, §§ 194 and 195 (Bonus Tax) were repealed in 1985; Art. 81, §§ 197-201 (Tax on Franchise to a Corporation) were repealed in 1972; Art. 23, §§ 129 and 130 (Recording Corporate Papers) were repealed in 1975 and portions moved to the Corp. and Assns. Art.; Art. 81, § 128 (Deposits of Savings Banks) appears in Tax-Gen., Title 8; Art. 81, §§ 135 to 143 (Insurance Premiums) appear in Tax-Gen. art. 48A §§ 631 to 640; Art. 81, §§ 149 to 193 (Inheritances) appear in Tax-Gen., Title 7; Art. 62A (Estate Tax) appears in Tax-Gen., Title 7; Art. 81, § 144 (Tax on Commissions of Executors and Administrators) appears in Tax-Gen. §§ 7-401, 7-403, and 7-405; Art. 81, §§ 431 to 464 (State Tobacco Tax Act) appear in Tax-Gen., Titles 1, 2, 12, and 13 and Art. 56 ch. 6; Art. 81, §§ 12-A and 12-B (Sales Tax and Gross Receipt Tax on Advertising, etc.) appear in Art. 24, §§ 9-201 and 9-202.