Too little, too late
by Lori Barrett | April 18, 2008 at 5:59 am
Posted in baltimore politics, money
Andy Harris — currently a State Senator and the Republican nominee for Congress — is asking Gov. O’Malley for a special session of the Maryland General Assembly. His request: a suspension of the gas tax for the summer.
While we all could use a break at the pumps (gas prices hit a record-high yesterday and are expected to peak near $4/gallon very soon), suspending the tax may cause some problems.
First and foremost, the Maryland General Assembly is not currently in session and the State House is closed until January for repairs. Seems like this would have been easier to address a few weeks ago.
The gas tax is also covering part of the budget ($250 million, to be exact) that used to be funded by the recently repealed computer service tax, among other things.
The excise tax of 23.5 cents per gallon is on the high end of the spectrum, but when combined with other taxes that factor into the price of gas, Maryland’s overall gas tax is slightly below the national average (41.9 vs. 42 cents per gallon).
While it is doubtful the tax will be repealed, be assured that the comptroller of Maryland is taking a number of steps that will likely have little effect on it either, including writing “a letter to the major oil companies asking them to disclose any information relating to the industry practice of zone pricing.” That should certainly fix things.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:42 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
It would be nice if for once in the life of the Sun, or its affiliate publications, you actually had someone who didn't tow the Democrat Party line. I never really expected this and the robotic posts on this blog so far may condemn this experiment to obscurity sooner than you think.
If the gas tax was temporarily suspended it might keep working class Marylanders able to afford to commute to work daily. It might also prove that the great Gov. O'Malley really cares a hoot about so-called working families.
He could easily make up the difference by rescinding his outrageous tax hikes and salary boosts to members of his cabinet.
Get it?
Please, I know I am wasting my time and energy writing this, but, man, try not being a O'Malley bot for once in your life.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:53 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Wasn't the MD general assembly out of session when they were called into a special session last time?
And then you say this: "The gas tax is also covering part of the budget ($250 million, to be exact) that used to be funded by the recently repealed computer service tax, among other things."
First, the gas tax is fenced, and goes towards transportation projects. Second, they have already covered the hole caused by the repeal by taxing millionaires at a higher rate.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I have long suspected that BRAC is going to be a big thing for Harford County.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Yeah, I've given up on this publication. I said I'd give it 5 days, and each day it was a waste of time. What is funny is that the Sun did or didn't do any research to see if they had the target market. They just didn't bet on their market being smarter than their publication.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:18 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
If Andy Harris wants to suspend the gas tax perhaps we should put the ICC on hold as well.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:32 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Yeah, gas is expensive now. Guess what - it's been expensive (much more than 4 bucks/gallon) for pretty much the rest of the world for better than 20 years now. Americans LOVE to bitch and moan about gas prices, as they climb into their 8 cylinder extra-obnoxious SUV and/or sports cars.
You'd think that exploding gas prices would encourage more Americans to consider greener options - and leave the oil barrons behind. But you'd be wrong. Instead you mount laughable "gas strikes" - the result of which is simply longer gas lines the day AFTER the strike.
But don't worry, I'm sure Michael Moore is hard at work editing straightforward interviews and cobbling together your next noah's ark of misinformation - I'm sure he'll even give it some catchy name for you, like "GASping for Air" or something. Then, instead of actually addressing the issue in a meaningful way, you can all add some REALLY hip quotes and statistics to your impotent whinning.
Welcome to reality people...gas costs money. We aren't in a crisis. We're just being treated like every other nation now. I know...sucks right?
!