Maryland senators are seeking to exempt the state's slots operators from potentially paying millions of dollars in local taxes each year.
Although state-owned property -- like the slot machines vendors lease from Maryland -- is exempt from local taxes, operators must still pay the local personal property tax because they are for-profit companies, according to an Attorney General's opinion obtained by The Associated Press Thursday.
Three of the five locations voters approved for slots in 2008 are either up and running or being built. The state has yet to issue licenses for two locations -- in Baltimore and Western Maryland.
The senators seeking the exemption say it was never their intent when they approved slots to have operators pay the personal property tax.
