Your 86% Gas Tax Increase, now move to VA (sales, 2013)

[Mr Beco]

By Blair Lee

We almost made it. We almost got through a General Assembly session without another Martin O’Malley tax increase. But then, at the last moment, O’Malley came out with a new tax that’s larger than any of the other 32 tax hikes he’s put into law during his seven-year tenure.

O’Malley’s bill, as amended by the House Ways and Means Committee, would hike the state’s gas tax from 23.5 cents per gallon to 43.7 cents per gallon by July 2016, an 86 percent increase. It also ties our gas tax to inflation, so it will now automatically increase without any legislative action or blame.

-Shoppers aren’t stupid, especially during hard times. They’ll compare Maryland’s 43.7 cents of tax on gas to Virginia’s (10.5 cents), Delaware’s (23 cents), Washington, D.C.’s (23.5 cents), Pennsylvania’s (32.3 cents) and West Virginia’s (34.7 cents).

Maryland is a small state within easy reach of its neighbors. O’Malley’s gas tax is going to kill retailers located near the state’s borders.

All our gas taxes, vehicle registration and license fees, etc., go into a special fund (the Transportation Trust Fund), not the state’s general fund.

Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) revenues are dedicated to transportation spending only. But the dirty little secret of state budgeting is that, while the general fund is subject to the state constitution’s balanced budget requirement, the TTF is not.

That’s why state lawmakers raid the TTF to balance the general fund when revenues drop. Also, it’s easier to swipe TTF money rather than actually cut state spending. O’Malley “borrowed” $1.3 billion from the TTF and now complains that the cupboard is bare.

He’s promised to return $500 million to the TTF and never to raid it again. His gas-tax bill puts a “lockbox” on the TTF, but it should be called a “joke box” because it’s no protection whatsoever: The governor can unlock the lockbox and swipe all the new gas-tax revenue if 60 percent of the legislature’s two spending committees approve. Remember, committee membership is controlled by each chamber’s presiding officer and, as we saw with the death penalty and offshore windmills, committee members can be quickly shifted until the desired vote is achieved.


Gazette.Net: Blair Lee: Your 86 percent Gas-Tax Increase

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

By Blair Lee

We almost made it. We almost got through a General Assembly session without another Martin O’Malley tax increase. But then, at the last moment, O’Malley came out with a new tax that’s larger than any of the other 32 tax hikes he’s put into law during his seven-year tenure.

O’Malley’s bill, as amended by the House Ways and Means Committee, would hike the state’s gas tax from 23.5 cents per gallon to 43.7 cents per gallon by July 2016, an 86 percent increase. It also ties our gas tax to inflation, so it will now automatically increase without any legislative action or blame.

-Shoppers aren’t stupid, especially during hard times. They’ll compare Maryland’s 43.7 cents of tax on gas to Virginia’s (10.5 cents), Delaware’s (23 cents), Washington, D.C.’s (23.5 cents), Pennsylvania’s (32.3 cents) and West Virginia’s (34.7 cents).

Maryland is a small state within easy reach of its neighbors. O’Malley’s gas tax is going to kill retailers located near the state’s borders.

All our gas taxes, vehicle registration and license fees, etc., go into a special fund (the Transportation Trust Fund), not the state’s general fund.

Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) revenues are dedicated to transportation spending only. But the dirty little secret of state budgeting is that, while the general fund is subject to the state constitution’s balanced budget requirement, the TTF is not.

That’s why state lawmakers raid the TTF to balance the general fund when revenues drop. Also, it’s easier to swipe TTF money rather than actually cut state spending. O’Malley “borrowed” $1.3 billion from the TTF and now complains that the cupboard is bare.

He’s promised to return $500 million to the TTF and never to raid it again. His gas-tax bill puts a “lockbox” on the TTF, but it should be called a “joke box” because it’s no protection whatsoever: The governor can unlock the lockbox and swipe all the new gas-tax revenue if 60 percent of the legislature’s two spending committees approve. Remember, committee membership is controlled by each chamber’s presiding officer and, as we saw with the death penalty and offshore windmills, committee members can be quickly shifted until the desired vote is achieved.


Gazette.Net: Blair Lee: Your 86 percent Gas-Tax Increase

Meh.....Northern Virginia was hit a lot harder than Maryland was. The D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side can take the train and bus and not feel any of the new taxes. Northern Virginia was hammered! Get a clue! The car tax in northern Virginia you don't pay in Maryland alone covers the gas price increase in Maryland and then some.

Virginia Legislators Approve Increases in Sales Tax, Car Tax, Regional Taxes | Tax Foundation

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

Meh.....Northern Virginia was hit a lot harder than Maryland was. The D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side can take the train and bus and not feel any of the new taxes. Northern Virginia was hammered! Get a clue! The car tax in northern Virginia you don't pay in Maryland alone covers the gas price increase in Maryland and then some.

Virginia Legislators Approve Increases in Sales Tax, Car Tax, Regional Taxes | Tax Foundation

I am still looking for a good comparison between living in MD vs VA. Gas prices seem to be fairly even.

[Fast GTO]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

I am still looking for a good comparison between living in MD vs VA. Gas prices seem to be fairly even.

personal property tax (i.e. yearly tax on car etc...)

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by Fast GTO

personal property tax (i.e. yearly tax on car etc...)

Everything, cause I'm seriously considering moving across the river to VA. My office is there, can't deal with that evening commute, so if its cheaper, which I doubt, I'd move

[Fast GTO]

It's not cheaper.

[KCP_1980]

I work in Northern VA and live in MD. Gas is much higher in price on the VA side of the bridge. So while the tax amount may be higher in MD, if the total price per gallon is still lower in MD than VA, I don't really see how VA gets an advantage. Yes, gas may be cheaper in VA suburbs than MD suburbs, but I'm don't want to live that far out anyhow.

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by KCP_1980

I work in Northern VA and live in MD. Gas is much higher in price on the VA side of the bridge. So while the tax amount may be higher in MD, if the total price per gallon is still lower in MD than VA, I don't really see how VA gets an advantage. Yes, gas may be cheaper in VA suburbs than MD suburbs, but I'm don't want to live that far out anyhow.

That wasn't true 6-7 months ago, for some reason VA gas has trickled up to over take most stations I use in Maryland. I did see reasonable gas near Lansdowne, but as you said, man that's far away....

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

Meh.....Northern Virginia was hit a lot harder than Maryland was. The D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side can take the train and bus and not feel any of the new taxes. Northern Virginia was hammered! Get a clue! The car tax in northern Virginia you don't pay in Maryland alone covers the gas price increase in Maryland and then some.

Virginia Legislators Approve Increases in Sales Tax, Car Tax, Regional Taxes | Tax Foundation

Dude really stop talking to Maryland Taxpayers as if they are remedial, you know da*m*n well this was pushed through in order to help Businesses /Revinue continue to Flourish in Northern Virginia......

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by KCP_1980

I work in Northern VA and live in MD. Gas is much higher in price on the VA side of the bridge. So while the tax amount may be higher in MD, if the total price per gallon is still lower in MD than VA, I don't really see how VA gets an advantage. Yes, gas may be cheaper in VA suburbs than MD suburbs, but I'm don't want to live that far out anyhow.

In your roundabout way you are admitting that Gas prices in Virginia will be much lower than Maryland's Gas Price once the Maryland Gas price increase goes to effect. And most definitely will add on to the anti-Business climate and Population decline in the Maryland Suburbs in which a lot of the Communist Democrats anti-Growth special interest Groups in local Maryland politics continue to support..