1. Maryland Homestead Tax Credit
The Maryland Homestead Tax Credit limits the amount by which your property tax assessment can increase on your principal residence to 10% or less each year. (The limit in Howard County is presently set to 5% per year.)
Rising Assessments
What this means is that when your house is reassessed (roughly every 3 years), even if the value of the assessment increases sharply, the amount of the property tax you pay will be limited to increasing by no more than 5% a year in Howard County. Typically the increases are phased in over a 3-year period.
The law was enacted to prevent sharply rising property values from causing financial difficulties for long-time residents, especially retirees on fixed incomes.
But You Must Apply
The caveat is that the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit is not applied to your residence unless you submit an application. But once approved the credit is automatically applied each year afterwards.
If you're unsure of the status of your Homestead Credit, you can check your property in the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation SDAT Real Property Database.
You can apply by mail or online:
2. Homeowners' Property Tax Credit Program
A separate, much less well-known program called the Homeowners' Property Tax Credit limits your property taxes on your primary residence based upon income thresholds.
Since your net worth must also be below $200,000 (not including your residence and retirement accounts) and combined gross household income must be below $60,000 this program most likely would have the biggest benefit if you suffer a sudden, unexpected financial issue such as job loss.
Also, this affects only the taxes from the first $300,000 of assessment valuation.
The maximum property tax varies as household income increases:
