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Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Maryland Governor Releases Transportation Funding Bill

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley on Monday night released a proposal that includes an increase in overall gasoline taxes and other measures to raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in new money for transportation.

O'Malley, a Democrat, outlined the plan with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, D-Calvert, and House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, at a news conference. With the presiding officers in his corner, O'Malley stands a strong chance of ushering the measure through the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

The plan would apply a new sales tax on gasoline, starting at 2 percent in July. It would rise to 4 percent in July 2014. It also would reduce the current excise tax on a gallon of gas by 5 cents, from 23.5 cents to 18.5 cents. The plan would then index the excise tax to the consumer price index to adjust for inflation.

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7 comments:

Daddio said...

Hmmm ... let's see ...

Assuming the wholesale cost of gas is $3.00 a gallon, a 2% tax would equal six cents!

So, a five cent reduction would mean an increase right off the bat! Then it goes up and up again, without further legislation by future representatives!

I smell a rat, or something even worse here ...

Anonymous said...

Daddio - of course they're getting more money out of the sheeple-peasants.

Unfortunately, this will hit the lower income folks the hardest as they are least likely to have higher-fuel-efficiency vehicles. (Maybe they'll finally realize they're getting what they voted for!)

Businesses using gasoline powered vehicles would also see increased costs - some of which they can currently write off as business expenses.

Bottom-line - everybody pays more...and getting gas on the North side of the street in Delmar is looking better all the time....

Anonymous said...

Joke's on them... I don't pay for gas!

Anonymous said...

woo hoo more taxes!

Anonymous said...

I just read something yesterday about people in Maryland are forced to drive at least an 60-90 minutes to work. (not in this area) Most can not afford to live in some counties because of how expensive houses and taxes are. The state will make a killing from these drivers. I guess that is their plan all along.

Anonymous said...

Just saw this on Change Maryland's facebook page. 25th!!!

ChangeMaryland
Last night Governor O'Malley proposed his 25th consecutive tax hike. He thinks struggling Maryland families who are barely getting by should pay more for gasoline, to pay for his mistakes of mismanaging transportation and spending a billion of transportation money on other things.

Anonymous said...

Watch out for E15.

It will kill most vehicles on the road. Few cars more than three years old can handle it. Some newer than that can not. Forget using it in anything other than a car.

This is an effort to get older vehicles into the Junk Yard.