37 O'Malley Tax Increases Cost Us $3.1 Billion More Each Year

Annapolis - Change Maryland released today an updated list of tax, fee and toll increases under the O'Malley Administration. This latest report details 37 increases that remove an additional $3.1 billion more out of the pockets of Marylander's every year.

Final passage in the legislature of transportation taxes and offshore wind fee increases will add another $800 million in additional annual tax burdens borne by Marylander’s. The previous Change Maryland list released one week ago quantified an annual impact of $2.3 billion on 32 levies.

The so-called "Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act" is actually four different revenue measures rolled into one bill – sales taxes on fuel, indexing the previously flat excise tax to inflation and increased mass-transit and vehicle registration fees. Bringing the total to 37, the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act enables the collection of fees from electricity ratepayers needed to support the concept.

The revenue measures in the list chronicle the state’s emergence as a national leader in raising taxes. As a result of this 2013 legislative session, electricity and gasoline will now be more expensive. This is especially so due to the transportation revenue package which disproportionately funds mass transit projects in the planning stages.

"The Governor calls it the Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act that will create jobs, end road congestion and create a 21st Century Transportation Network,” said Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. “I call it the Highway Robbery Act of 2013 - the 37th consecutive O’Malley tax hike that takes us to $3 billion removed annually from struggling Maryland families and small businesses which will cost us even more businesses, jobs and taxpayers.”

Change Maryland now has almost 35,000 members and has grown by nearly 10,000 since the most recent tax-raising legislative session began less than 90 days ago.

"Our top elected officials went to great lengths to avoid news coverage of the overwhelmingly unpopular gas tax by scheduling key announcements, committee votes and floor action on evenings and late Friday afternoons," said Hogan. "The Governor led wind energy activists in chanting 'give wind a chance,’ while the vast majority of Marylander's wish he would just give taxpayers a chance instead. Our top elected officials don’t know it yet, but they are sealing the deal for a tax revolt in Maryland.”