Posted on 09/26/2007 5:31:29 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Governor favors linking rate to cost of road work
Maryland's gasoline tax would go up in 18 months -- and possibly sooner -- if Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to add $400 million a year in transportation funding is approved by the General Assembly.
Although an immediate increase in the gas tax is not part of the $2 billion revenue plan the Democratic governor has been rolling out over the past week, he said Monday that he will push to tie future increases to the rising cost of road and bridge construction materials.
At present rates of inflation, that would average $63 million a year, an increase of about 0.8 cents a year on the current 23.5-cents-per-gallon rate, state officials said.
The way the proposal is structured, new rates wouldn't take effect for about 18 months. But O'Malley also suggested he would be open to supporting an immediate increase in the gas tax, which was last changed in 1993, if the legislature approved it.
Business leaders, including the Greater Baltimore Committee, have been pushing for an immediate 10 cents-per-gallon increase to fund transportation needs.
"So very much of what we are putting forward is our best estimate of where we can find consensus among the members of the General Assembly," O'Malley said. "There is always the possibility that there will be a greater amount of consensus by the time we reach a special session."
Discussion of the gas tax Monday came as O'Malley formally unveiled his plan to add about $392 million a year to the state's transportation trust fund.
The infusion of cash for roads and mass transit would come from an increase in the tax on car sales, known as the titling tax, a rise in the corporate income tax and a few other measures.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Maryland Governor O’Malley Announces Plan to Invest in Higher Education and Transportation
I’d just as soon replace the gasoline and titling taxes with a simple consumption tax (on all goods and services) of no more than 2 percent. Everyone benefits from transportation and roads, and the efficacy of a gas tax breaks down with increasing gas prices and fuel efficiency (and spending it on transit is just plain WRONG!). If there is a need for more money, tolls, privatization, and higher transit fares could close the gap. Or a separate, local funding stream for transit could be initiated, as mentioned by Senator Brinkley.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Apparently, some 100 million dollars of transportation revenue goes to the general fund in a year. O’Malley wants to keep that in the transportation fund.
Don’t you mean Ehrlich?
IIRC, didn’t Ehrlich leave a budget surplus and wasn’t that surplus part of Erhlich’s campaign? I wonder what happened.
As far as a consumption tax why would the RATs stop at 2 per cent?
The State that rejected Steele.
Plan Uses Taxes to Fight Climate Change
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1902846/posts
Of course, all my ideas make the assumption that there are actual human beings running the show.
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