ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland's Comptroller is estimating for the first time the tax revenue impact from a slowdown in economic activity caused by the partial government shut down.
In its new report, the Comptroller's office estimated that 172,000 Marylanders are affected by the shutdown.
That includes 90,000 federal employees and 82,000 contractors who aren’t being paid.
The total payroll for both categories of workers is estimated as $778 million in salary every two weeks.
They pay a total of $57.5 million in state and local income taxes for each of those pay periods which are not being collected, the comptroller’s office reported.
The comptroller estimates sales tax revenues will be off by -2.1 percent since the beginning of the shutdown, a clear indicator that people are spending less.
Federal workers are expected to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, and the state will likely get its tax payments at that time.
Franchot predicted many of the contractors will never have furlough pay restored, and much of the revenue to the state will be lost.
"There's an inevitable negative impact on the state's economic situation because we're talking about a lot of money," Franchot said.