Gas in Maryland isn?t all that expensive. In fact, on average, it?s only $2.60 for a gallon of regular gas.
Before taxes.
Maryland charges a state tax of 23.5 cents per gallon, the 19th-highest rate in the nation, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation. The federal gas tax adds another 18.4 cents per gallon.
Subtract that from the AAA?s Baltimore metro-area average of $3.02 per gallon of regular gas, and motorists could be paying $2.60 to fuel up.
Gas taxes are one of several sources of funding for the state?s Transportation Trust Fund, and the Federal Highway Trust Fund on the national level. In theory, the taxes are a “user fee” to expand and maintain the nation and state?s highway system.
“The gas tax is designed to be a user fee that the government uses to keep up the roads, so that you?re paying your fair share,” said Nate Bailey, spokesman for the Tax Foundation. “It stands to reason that the more you drive, more gas you use. The problem is that over time, it has moved from that general fee to just another form of taxation.”
But Bailey said as the nation?s interstate system was built out, governments have turned to the tax funds for other needs.
The House of Delegates early Sunday morning passed a $1.4 billion tax reform plan that included no increase in the state?s gas tax. Gov. Martin O?Malley had earlier considered raising the gas tax or connecting increases to rising construction costs, known as indexing. A Senate panel reworked the governor?s plan to instead dedicate a portion of the state sales tax to transportation needs.
“There have been several different ideas floating around in Maryland,” Bailey said. “It doesn?t look like any will move forward, but the intention was unclear. They were going to increase it, but where was it going to?”
But if you think the gas tax is bad here, buy a gallon of gas in London, where regular gas sells for $7.25 per gallon in U.S. dollars according to the firm Associates for International Research. Taxes make up as much as 70 percent of that price, and in countries across Europe, about 50 percent of the price at the pump is taxes.
“Europe is very urbanized, they don?t have the space for cars, they want to discourage driving,” said Justin Paruchi, an oil and gas analyst with Chicago investment research firm Morningstar.
“A lot of it was instituted back in the 1970s, when they had the same problems we did,” he said. “They just never repealed them.”
