Gas Tax

In the past week, momentum has been building in Annapolis to raise the gasoline tax. It is now the most-favored tax of state legislators as they try to cope with a $1.5 billion deficit over the next 17 months. But politicians ought to resist their initial temptation to siphon off this new revenue source for budget-balancing purposes. Gas-tax money is supposed to be used for transportation programs, and that's where the money should remain.Two plans are now afloat. One, sponsored by Gov. William Donald Schaefer, would raise the gas tax by a nickel, to 23.5 cents a gallon.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has long promised that Baltimore and the Washington suburbs would each get a new light-rail line and that the Red Line and its Purple counterpart outside D.C. could be built at the same time. But state financial documents recently submitted to the Federal Transit Administration show that O'Malley's promise, to the state's most populous regions, will be difficult — if not impossible — to keep. The General Assembly's recent rejection of the governor's proposed gas tax hike makes it increasingly likely that the state will have to choose to build one line before the other, state and local transportation officials say. With no new tax revenue dedicated to transportation, finding the money for even one of the light-rail lines will be difficult, the officials say. The state hoped to begin construction on both lines in 2015, with the 14-mile Red Line — which would ultimately run from Woodlawn to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center — opening in early 2021 and the 16-mile Purple Line opening between Bethesda and New Carrollton by late 2020.

ANNAPOLIS -- Don't think of it as a gas tax. Think of it as a "jobs" bill.Truckers, gas station dealers, engineers, highway contractors, asphalt firms, sand and gravel companies, business groups and county executives lined up yesterday in support of Gov. William Donald Schaefer's proposal to raise Maryland's 18.5-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax to 23.5 cents a gallon.In different ways, almost all of them said the same thing: Raising the gas tax will jump-start the state's stalled highway construction industry, and that in turn will stimulate the state's recession-weary economy.

I'm sick and tired of The Baltimore Sun editorial staff advocating a gas tax for transportation projects ("Unfinished business," May 16). A new gas tax would not be used for transportation funds. It would again be raided for the general fund. The Baltimore Sun says the gas tax hasn't increased since 1992. What a coincidence since my salary is lower now than it was in 1992. I'm living within my budget. I expect the state of Maryland to start living within its budget and quit increasing it every year.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer yesterday announced plans to speed up $88 million in highway construction projects to boost Maryland's economy, but aides said the plan could hinge on the legislature approving a nickel increase in the gasoline tax."If we advertise for bids now, these jobs can be out on the street as soon as the Department of Transportation has the money to fund them," Governor Schaefer said in a written statement. "We can put hundreds of Marylanders back to work immediately."Transportation Secretary O. James Lighthizer said his agency will immediately begin advertising 69 maintenance and repair projects for bid under the governor's proposal.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer has announced plans to speed up $88 million in highway construction projects to boost Maryland's economy, but aides said the plan could hinge on the legislature approving a nickel increase in the gasoline tax."If we advertise for bids now, these jobs can be out on the street as soon as the Department of Transportation has the money to fund them," Governor Schaefer said yesterday in a written statement. "We can put hundreds of Marylanders back to work immediately."

THE RECENT STORMS drenching this state -- and closing major roads, transit systems and rail lines -- provided a graphic reminder of Marylanders' reliance on the state's transportation network. If there's any issue on which state leaders ought to truly take a "One Maryland" approach, ought to forge a statewide vision, it's transportation. The time for that is now: Maryland transportation funding -- more than $10 billion short of the needs identified by the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. through 2010 -- is deep into a full-blown crisis.

The General Assembly's speedy embrace of Gov. Martin O'Malley's income tax increases this week cleaned up a political mess in Annapolis, but the rate hikes could come back to haunt the Democrat if he seeks national office when his time in the governor's mansion is up. O'Malley's tax package, which won final approval from the Democratic legislature on Wednesday, will give Maryland's top earners the seventh-highest income tax rate in the country....

If the 10 cents a gallon increase in the gas tax is passed and you put 15 gallons of gas in your car every week, in a years time to will amount to an extra $78. Now if the gas tax is not passed, how much are you going to have to pay your car repair place when you hit all of those potholes that won't be repaired? Which is worse, $78 at the pump or a year's cost of car repairs? I'll take the $78. Thomas Coburn, Rosedale

When making a purchase at an ordinary store and the final bill comes out to a sum 6 percent higher than the indicated price, one might ask, "What's that for?" "That's the sales tax," is the common reply and we're only slightly irritated. Now suppose gas stations advertise the price at $3.76 per gallon (about what the retailer is getting now) but a fill-up final price on the pump would be 75 bucks with the added tax of 10 cents per gallon obscured, the same as any other retailer. The state would get their feared tax increase and the public is tickled with $3.75 per gallon gasoline.

The General Assembly's speedy embrace of Gov. Martin O'Malley's income tax increases this week cleaned up a political mess in Annapolis, but the rate hikes could come back to haunt the Democrat if he seeks national office when his time in the governor's mansion is up. O'Malley's tax package, which won final approval from the Democratic legislature on Wednesday, will give Maryland's top earners the seventh-highest income tax rate in the country....

With the stunning end to Maryland's General Assembly, many have opined of the need to raise the gas tax in the anticipated special session ("Baltimore gets stranded," April 17). Supporters state that the "business community" overwhelmingly favors such an increase. Notably, many in the "business community" that favor the gas tax represent businesses that do not actually own vehicles. As a representative of the trucking industry which delivers the food, clothing, medicine and other goods Marylanders use, I can tell you that such support among businesses is hardly universal.

As long as the General Assembly's top leaders are planning a special session to pick up the state's budget where last they left it, here's another item to add to the agenda: No MTA fare hike unless it's part of a broader agenda to revive the financially-depleted Transportation Trust Fund. Little noticed in all the debate in Annapolis over spending cuts and new taxes was an instruction added to what's known as the BRFA (the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act), the bill that each year accompanies the budget, that requires the Maryland Transit Administration to raise fares on bus, light rail and subway services every two years to meet a 35 percent farebox recovery rate and keep up with the Consumer Price Index.

The Sun ("A silver lining," April 12) and Sen. Jim Rosapepe ("Put transportation to voters," April 12) turn a blind eye to the truth about the true cause of shortfalls in the state's Transportation Trust Fund. Marylanders do not believe their false claims that a higher sales tax or gas tax will reduce traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is caused by too many cars and too little traffic flow, either from accidents or lane closures. The Sun would have you believe that the poor do not have cars and that the middle class, a group that seems to be everyday growing in definition, can absorb any tax dreamed by this administration.

The morons in Annapolis have no common sense. How easy would it have been to index the gas tax to inflation. Your editorial ("Silver lining," April 12) fails to make the connection between the draining of the transportation trust fund and the current crisis. Does the fund need more revenues? Absolutely. It also needs to be protected from the thieves in Annapolis from using its money elsewhere. The first order of business related to the TTF is to prevent it being raided by the politicians.

For almost a decade, the Maryland business community has urged the legislature to raise revenue to invest in our state's clogged transportation infrastructure. And for good reason. The Baltimore area is the fifth most traffic-congested in America - and the Washington area is No. 1. As nations like China build high-speed rail and cities from Portland to Dallas expand light rail, Maryland continues to fall behind even in repairing potholes and bridges. Building the Red Line in Baltimore, the Purple Line in the D.C. suburbs, and the kind of MARC commuter rail Maryland needs remain aspirations, not financed projects.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been taken out of Maryland's transportation trust fund over the years. In fact, once again this year hundreds of millions of dollars have again been taken out of this and other trust funds and placed into the state's general fund. It is like taking money from your right pocket and putting it into your left pocket because the left pocket was running out of money. And yes, gas stations will always have customers even if the price at one gas station was a little bit more.

Budget and Income Tax: The House and Senate reached tentative agreement Monday night on a $35 billion state budget for the coming year and the taxes to help pay for it. But the tax measure did not come up for a vote. The measure would have increased taxes for Marylanders with taxable incomes of more than $100,000. Rates would have gone up by one-quarter to three-quarters of a percentage point. Gas tax, sales tax: Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to apply the sales tax to gasoline didn't win General Assembly support, nor did his backup plan of raising Maryland's 6 percent sales tax to 7 percent and earmarking the extra money for highway and transit projects.

With regard to Maryland's gas tax or any sales tax increase devoted to the same purpose, we don't trust Gov.Martin O'Malley, his successor or subsequent successors ("O'Malley looks at sales tax increase for roads," April 4). The transportation fund has been raided in the past, and we have no guarantees that it will not be raided in the future. If more revenue is needed to maintain our transportation infrastructure, I think most people would have no real problem with an increase in gas taxes - if the money raised was used for only transportation.