‘Maryland is the best state in the nation’: Heather Mizeur

Six of seven candidates vying for the Maryland governorship in 2014 spent the morning of April 21 explaining to business and tech leaders why they deserve the votes of the state’s business community.
It was the Gubernatorial Candidates Forum put on by the Tech Council of Maryland. (Only Republican candidate Larry Hogan did not attend the event.)
Technical.ly Baltimore has been posting the main talking points of each candidate who spoke at the two-hour forum in Bethesda, Md., as they relate to their thoughts on the innovation and tech economy in the state. (Find other candidates’ talking points here.)
Up today: Heather Mizeur.

• The basics: Democrat and member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 20 in Montgomery County. Mizeur, along with state Sen. Bill Ferguson, aided the creation of a Joint Committee on Transparency and Open Government in 2011.
• Her one-liner: “Maryland is the best state in the nation.”
• Three points:
  • Mizeur said tackling the income inequality gap in Maryland is central to any economic development in the state. For starters, she wants universal pre-kindergarten education for children under 5 years old. She also said she wants to increase the minimum wage to a “living wage.”
  • She’s interested in pushing tax relief for small businesses through a rebate tax on equipment, and would ask corporations “to pay their fair share” so small businesses can be taxed less.
  • As for Maryland’s corporate income tax rate of 8.25 percent, Mizeur noted it’s the second-lowest in the region. Delaware is at 8.7 percent, Pennsylvania at 9.99 percent, Washington, D.C., at 9.975 percent and Virginia at 6 percent, according to numbers from the Tax Foundation. (West Virginia’s corporate tax rate is 6.5 percent.)