On the

April 15th

income tax

filing deadline,

thousands of

baseball fans

paid to see the new

Baltimore Orioles

play their first

home game in

Memorial Stadium,

helping to generate

$460,455 in

admissions

and amusement

taxes for

fiscal year

1954.

The first Chesapeake
Bay Bridge was
opened in July, 1952

1950s

Rush hour traffic at the corner of Hilton and Edmondson Avenues in Baltimore in 1951
became a familiar sight statewide as Maryland's post-war economy boomed with
Steady gains in jobs, incomes and sales. Photo courtesy of the Maryland State Archives, News
American Collection, MSA SC 2117-20

R

apid growth and prosperity in
the post-war years - and
Maryland's 500,000 income taxpay-
ers - prompted the comptroller to
open taxpayer service offices in
Bladensburg, Easton and
Cumberland by 1950.

Consumer confidence and the
emergence of the television as a
"must-have" in every household
boosted Maryland sales tax
revenue from the $28.3 million
collected in fiscal year 1950 to $56
million in fiscal year 1959. Record
shops enjoyed healthy receipts,
too, thanks to a new singing
sensation named Elvis Presley.

The bustling economy led to
significant job gains, evidenced by
the 29% jump in income tax
revenues from the $28.7 million
collected in fiscal year 1950 to $99.7
million generated nine years later.

Collections and compliance
both improved in 1955 when em-
ployers began automatically with-
holding income taxes from wage
earners' paychecks.

Four years later, lawmakers
boosted Maryland's sales tax rate to
3%. The comptroller's retail sales tax
division moved to Baltimore, where
most of the state's commercial
taxpayers were located - such as the
tenants of Mondawmin Mall, one of
the first enclosed shopping malls
built in America.