Montgomery Community Media

County leaders announced a guaranteed income pilot program to provide monthly cash payments to 300 households. Each of the 300 households will receive $800 per month for 24 months, said Councilmember Will Jawando, a lead sponsor of the $1,993,832 council special appropriation to fund the program. A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 2. Guaranteed […]

On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Council unanimously approved a bill that expands eligibility for the county’s local income tax credit: the Working Families Income Supplement (WFIS). The amendment allows residents who qualify for either the federal or state earned income tax credit (EITC) to be eligible for the county’s WFIS, according to a council staff […]

Between July 2010 and July 2019, Montgomery County’s population grew 7.7%, according to a presentation Thursday morning by the Montgomery County planners, who created the Montgomery County QuickStats 2019 report. The population has grown up about 76,000 in the past 10 years. The racial breakdown of Montgomery County’s 1,050,688 residents is 42.6% white, 20.1% Hispanic, […]

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and other county leaders held a press conference Friday to announce additional rent relief for eligible residents. Phase 3 of the county’s COVID-19 rent relief program is open for applications, with $59 million in federal funding available to help low-income households that have lost income due to the pandemic. Tenants […]

Gov. Larry Hogan introduced a $1 billion stimulus and tax relief package Monday that includes direct stimulus payments to qualifying Marylanders. The Recovery for the Economy, Livelihoods, Industries, Entrepreneurs and Families (RELIEF) Act must be passed by the state legislature before it can take effect. The 2021 legislative session begins Wednesday, and Hogan said he […]

Montgomery County will begin accepting Public Health Emergency Grant (PHEG) applications Wednesday afternoon. The PHEG program is designed to help for-profit and nonprofit businesses with 100 employees or fewer during the current pandemic. Businesses with no employees including sole proprietors and independent contractors may also benefit from the program. A sample of the application is […]

Bloomberg News published its annual list ranking the wealthiest towns in the U.S. Wednesday. Both Potomac and Travilah rank on the list. Travilah, a census-designated place in Montgomery County, earned the 24th spot on the list (last year Travilah ranked 25th on the list). According to Bloomberg, the average household income in Travilah is $284,682. […]

During these uncertain times, it’s easy to get caught up in the market volatility news coverage. While we know that we should look beyond the markets, it can be hard to imagine an alternative. Near retirees, your alternative is to look inward and assess not only your current financial status but also your future financial […]

Do April showers bring May flowers or does the April tax filing date bring us face-to-face with our non-flowery tax realities? According to Bloomberg, the average federal income tax rate in 2015 was over 10 percent, but for a family earning over $100,000 that rate can quickly climb. After adding the average 9.5 percent paid […]

Are you wondering if there’s a hard and fast rule about what income is taxable and what income is not taxable? The quick answer is that all income is taxable unless the law specifically excludes it. But as you might have guessed, there’s more to it than that. Taxable income includes any money you receive, […]