A coalition of Maryland environmentalists Thursday released a report identifying eight new or increased fees, taxes and initiatives they said could generate $706 million by 2009 to reduce the state?s projected $1.5 billion structural deficit.
Organizers acknowledge the outlined strategies are hardly innovative: More than 75 percent of the suggested savings come from abandoning the InterCounty Connector project, which Gov. Martin O?Malley consistently has said he will back with funds from the transportation trust ? not from the operating budget.
Still, Maryland could apply the $540 million slated for the 18-mile highway in fiscal 2009 toward eco-friendly transportation projects, like ride shares, said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
“Why are we spending $3 billion on a roadway that will do little to relieve our transportation issues but will, without a doubt, increase our global warming pollution?” Schwartz asked.
The report includes some strategies that have failed to pass muster with legislators, including establishing a “green fund” with fees associated with constructing impervious surfaces, and ending $7.7 million in subsidies for coal mines, the source of more than half the state?s electricity generation.
The report?s authors said the state?s agricultural transfer tax, now between 3 and 5 percent, should be doubled to discourage development. At least one of their suggestions ? to close a loophole allowing corporations to avoid paying real estate taxes that go toward land conservation ? seems to have O?Malley?s support, however.
