Democratic leaders in the Maryland Senate are proposing a new sales tax on gasoline — roughly equal to $2.16 per tank — with a bill that would steer one-quarter of the revenues from Montgomery, Prince George’s and Baltimore counties to the jurisdictions’ billion-dollar light rail projects. Maryland currently charges drivers a fixed 23.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline. Tacking on a sales tax would not affect the state’s per-gallon rate, but instead would tie any tax increases to the cost of gas. The 4 percent sales tax would drive up the cost of gas by roughly 12 cents for a $3 gallon and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the state’s deflated transportation coffers.
“We need more revenues to relieve some pressure on the general fund so we can get back on track with these [transit] projects,” said Sen. Roger Manno, D-Silver Spring, who sponsored the bill with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. “They are absolutely critical to our ability to get folks out of cars.”
The planned 16-mile Purple Line rail connecting New Carrollton and Bethesda would cost the state roughly $1.6 billion. A $1.8 billion high-speed rail line is planned for Baltimore. Gov. Martin O’Malley’s fiscal 2012 capital budget allocates $64 million to the two projects.
A movement to raise the state’s 23.5-cent-per-gallon gas tax has gained traction in the General Assembly as lawmakers seek ways to replenish the transportation fund, which helps pay for bridge and road repairs.
O’Malley has cut local transportation funding by more than 95 percent in the last three years, and his fiscal 2012 budget includes more cuts.
“The local roads are in an obvious state of disrepair,” Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said Wednesday during a Board of Public Works meeting, adding that potholes have made some roads nearly impassable. “We’re going to end up paying a huge amount [of money] to take care of this [in the future].”
Sen. Rob Garagiola, D-Germantown, has proposed a 10-cent-per-gallon increase to the current gas tax.
Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, have proposed charging the counties’ residents a special tax for the rail projects.
Manno’s 4 percent tax would not charge the counties’ residents extra, but divert a quarter of their revenues to the rails.
