By Takirra Winfield, Press Secretary
Driving on roads that are congested, deteriorated or unsafe costs Maryland commuters $6.2 billion each year.
- Driving on roads that are congested, deteriorated or unsafe costs the average DC commuter 67 hours of lost time, 32 gallons of wasted gas, and $2,195 out-of-pocket each year.
- Driving on roads that are congested, deteriorated or unsafe costs the average Baltimore commuter 41 hours of lost time, 19 gallons of wasted gas, and $1,781 out-of-pocket each year.
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The story not being told is the inaction that already cost Maryland Citizens billions of dollars when the Governor failed to return the money he and the General Assembly raided from the Transportation Trust Fund that was left fully funded by Governor Ehrlich to pay for all of the transportation projects currently underway when Governor O'Malley took office. If that money had never been taken out of the TTF then there would be no need to raise the gasoline tax at a time when gasoline is certain to surpass the $4 mark. This is just one more opportunity for the Governor to prove to us all that he really does not have a shred of concern for the needs of the poor and middle class by increasing another tax simply to make up his own prior actions and ultimately his inaction when it comes to demonstrating even a shred of fiscal restraint.
I want to see an accounting of all the money that was in the transportation fund previously. The money was squandered. It is, and will continue to be a slush fund with OWE'Malley in charge. BTW, have you seen the new signs at our state borders?? They say " Welcome To Maryland---What's In Your Wallet"??
I've read news articles (multiple) on the proposal. It essentially raises the cost of gas 9 cents a gallon over the course of two years(wholesale level)....BUT....first they reduce the existing gas tax by 5 cents on the consumer end (finished product). What??? Why not just raise the price of gas by 4 cents a gallon over the course of two years instead at the consumer/end level? Now, I understand that they are altering where the taxation takes place (wholesale level, versus end product level) but as I'm not a gasoline economist, I'm really not sure what the benefit is. My best guess (and thats all this is) is that it better enables the government to collect revenue based on the market price of wholesale gasoline(as this is linked to the price of oil). This works when oil is expensive, like it's been the past 5-6 years. However, if for some strange reason oil started trading at 50 dollars a barrel in a few years...they are going to wish they increased the tax per gallon at the consumer level instead (and probably try reversing this through legislation).
I'm sure at some point we will see MOM in a few press ops look down at the camera with a little tear in his eye and his lower lip curled in slightly as he utters his favorite words... "It's for the children."
We see one about every 2-3 weeks I'd guess.-=
The main point of #1 is to buffer against increased fuel efficiency (which obviously lowers the per-gallon gas tax windfall) and to take advantage of ever-increasing gasoline costs. You're right that gas prices could go down, but that's almost certainly not going to happen unless the world economy collapses again. We'll have bigger problems than a few cents in lost sales tax revenue on gasoline if that's the case. #2, pegging the gas tax to inflation just makes sense since everyone would just complain if the gas tax was manually raised every few years. Just like they are now after over 2 decades of not raising it. Road users have been paying a smaller and smaller share of the cost of road construction and maintenance and we simply can't continue with a 1993 gas tax rate. Currently, MD's gas tax, tolls, fees, etc. only pay for about 1/3 of the cost of roads. The rest of the cost is subsidized by the general public which makes exactly zero sense. Continuing to raid the general fund to pay for transportation is not a way out of the mess a generation of sprawled road infrastructure has caused.
OUTRAGE: MD Politicians Urge $1.8 Million Corporate Welfare for Lockheed Martin // PLUS: Bill Sponsor Dating Their Lobbyist? http://www.marylandjuice.com/2013/03/outrage-md-politicians-urge-18-million.html
But increase a tax that hasn't been increased in twenty years so we can have better roads, and the public howls!!!!!!!!!!!