O'Malley-Brown Gas Tax Hike - Round 2 - Prices at the pump go up again today

Today’s stealth tax increase designed to shield politicians from election year backlash

Annapolis, MD – July 1 - Just as Maryland families are preparing to head off on a well-deserved Independence Day weekend, already high gas prices clicked up again today as the next round of the O’Malley-Brown administration’s gas taxes go into effect. Today’s increase falls on the one year anniversary of the largest increase in gas taxes in state history. Tied to the rate of inflation, this stealth tax hike brings the Maryland gas tax to more than 27 cents per gallon while shielding tax-and-spend politicians from a risky election year vote.

According to Republican gubernatorial nominee Larry Hogan, “Whether a cents-per-gallon tax increase or inflation-indexed hikes designed to insulate politicians from voting for higher gas taxes, the effect is the same: A regressive tax on struggling Marylanders and employers while Annapolis spending goes unchecked.”

Maryland’s price per gallon is dramatically higher than in Virginia which cut gasoline taxes and where pump prices are the fifth lowest in the nation. In fact, even the District of Columbia now has lower gas taxes than does Maryland.

Hogan said, “The O’Malley-Brown administration told us their massive gas tax hike was necessary to create jobs and fund transportation projects through the Transportation Trust Fund. Yet job creation remains stalled and long-overdue road repairs languish. And while they were taking more out of our pockets at the pump to fund the Transportation Trust Fund, they were simultaneously siphoning $861 out of it to pay for their pet projects,” said Hogan. Maryland law stipulates that gas taxes are to fund the Transportation Trust Fund and are not to be commingled with general revenue funds.

“There was absolutely no reason for Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown to raid our Transportation Trust Fund. In fact, prior to their $861 million heist, Maryland received $771 million in federal stimulus funding, which like the Transportation Trust Fund, was primarily earmarked for “shovel ready” infrastructure projects. The incredible end result of this administration’s reckless spending and mismanagement was that instead of having a total of $1.6 billion in the bank to make vital repairs and upgrades to our roads and bridges, they spent the stimulus dollars and gas tax dollars elsewhere. It’s time to roll back the O’Malley-Brown gas tax hikes and spend our infrastructure funds where they belong on roads and bridges.