Hogan Blasts O’Malley’s Gas Tax Proposal

Earlier this week Governor O’Malley again proposed increasing the gas tax, which, if enacted, would be his 25th consecutive tax hike. The Governor has already enacted 24 tax, toll, and fee increases that have taken an additional $2.4 billion every year out of the pockets of struggling Maryland families and small businesses. The Governor’s latest tax increase proposal is yet another regressive tax that hits the state’s most vulnerable the hardest. Maryland already has the highest income, corporate, and other tax rates in the region. If the Governor’s gas tax increase is enacted, Maryland will have the highest gas taxes in the entire region.

The Governor complains that Maryland has crumbling roads and bridges and the worst traffic congestion in the country, but what he doesn’t tell you is that it’s his fault. There has been no comprehensive transportation strategy from the O’Malley administration. Over a billion dollars has been diverted from the Transportation Trust Fund, and the vast majority of the billions of dollars that has been spent on transportation have been wasted on expenses that are completely unrelated to fixing our road problems. Now he wants struggling Maryland families to pay for his mistakes and his lack of leadership.

Over the last 4 years, Governor O’Malley has spent over $1 billion in dedicated transportation funds for things completely unrelated to transportation – even the money left in the transportation budget was also spent in the wrong place. In his 2014 budget, O’Malley proposes to spend $1.1 billion – a whopping 46% of our state capital and operating transportation budget – on public transportation, even though only 8% of us use public transportation to commute.
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