Dear kempo,
"All WalMart has to do is pull all of it's stores out of the state and place them strategically in surrounding state close the the border of Maryland and WalMart still gets Maryland business but pays sales tax to other states."
This may not be too practical.
The most populous jurisdictions in Maryland are Montgomery, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Howard, and Baltimore Counties, and Baltimore City.
Lower Montgomery and eastern Prince George's Counties are near to Washington, DC, but I don't think there are any Wal-Marts in DC. I think they may be planning one in the city (which would be easily accessible to parts of eastern Prince George's County, but not to wealthier Montgomery County), but the combination of high taxes, high regulatory requirements, and very expensive land makes it tough for Wal-Mart to execute their strategy there.
Some parts of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties aren't too far from Virginia, but the rest of these jurisdictions really aren't in "Wal-Mart range" of other states.
Between those jurisdictions, Wal-Mart could pull out of the state, and lose the business provided by a population of about 3.5 million or so people with median incomes well above the national average.
sitetest