ANNAPOLIS – Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said on Wednesday that he would prefer raising the state’s sales tax by a penny.
“I’m saying it’s another idea,” he told reporters after welcoming the state Senate back into session. “These bridges don’t build themselves. One penny on a sales tax is a pretty big yield.”
O’Malley somewhat shocked the political establishment here when he voiced his support for a 7-cent sales tax in an interview with a Baltimore radio station on Wednesday morning.
In fact, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. dismissed the idea as a “non-starter” in his chamber.
O’Malley is expected to push lawmakers to raise Maryland’s 23.5-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax and could propose a tripling of the state’s so-called “flush tax” in his budget.
