ANNAPOLIS — Union members kicked off the Maryland General Assembly session with calls for an income tax increase on millionaires and new requirements to tax large companies that do business in the state.

Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and other unions canvassed legislative offices Wednesday morning asking lawmakers to get behind creating a higher tax bracket for people with incomes above $1 million and a combined reporting initiative, which would require companies that operate in Maryland and elsewhere to file corporate income taxes in the state instead of only in jurisdictions with a lower tax rate.

Those legislative priorities, which failed last year, could help close the state’s $1.1 billion deficit and prevent cuts to state programs and public workers’ benefits, said Sue Esty, assistant director for AFSCME Maryland.

“On the one hand, (there are) all these many problems associated with cutting the budget too far, and then on the other hand there’s ways to solve the problem,” Esty said. “You know, tax the people who got a tax break, tax the millionaires, tax the individuals who aren’t paying one penny of income taxes here in Maryland.”

During the 2011 session, state employees and union representatives focused their energy on preventing cuts to employee pension plans and retiree health benefits.

While not the group’s primary concern this year, union leaders will be on the lookout for more adjustments beyond the changes made last year, when the legislature raised the amount employees contribute to their pension from 5 percent to 7 percent and decreased the multiplier that determines how much money employees receive when they retire.

“We don’t know what’s in store in terms of what might be introduced by legislators regarding pensions or retiree health insurance,” Esty said. “Certainly, we’re going to stand up for state employees if there’s a move to make any additional cuts. The fact of the matter is state employees have taken it on the chin, whether it’s on the pay side or the benefits side.”

Several state employees who attended a morning rally and planned to lobby lawmakers before the session began at noon, said they believed changes to tax laws were necessary in order to improve working conditions. Many complained of being overworked, with minimal resources at their disposal.

Valarie Williams, a parole and probation agent in Silver Spring, planned to tell lawmakers about the challenges she faces keeping up with her caseload, which she said can reach more than 200 cases, far from the ideal 75.

“When I started we had the resources, the supplies and we could work as a team,” said Williams, who has worked in the Department of Public Safety for 15 years.

Budgets in the past several years have been balanced based on a diet of cuts, which is not sustainable this year, said Neil L. Bergsman who heads the nonpartisan research group Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute.

“We’ve cut enough and not just because you all deserve to have what you earned, but because Maryland’s competitive edge calls for a strong work force,” Bergsman told workers at the rally.

In recent months lawmakers have discussed the possibility of increasing taxes on gasoline and the state’s “flush tax,” which is paid by homeowners and used to improve wastewater treatment in the state.

Gov. Martin O’Malley on Wednesday also floated the idea of raising the state sales tax, although he did not say that he planned to introduce it with the rest of his legislative package.

sbreitenbach@gazette.net