Fuel Tax Hike Would Hurt Working Families

The Maryland General Assembly is contemplating a tax increase on the fuel that working families use to get to-and-from work and to the grocery store.

Currently, the Maryland tax on gasoline is 26.5 cents per gallon of fuel. The proposal that the leading Democrats in Annapolis-- Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch -- support is a 38 percent increase to 36.5 cents per gallon. This tax will suck another $250 million out of our wallets every year.

Do the delegates that write these bills really think that they can get the economy going again by raising taxes? Maryland working familes already suffer from record unemployment. Any additional costs for conducting business in Maryland will surely result in cost-cutting elsewhere—and that will probably mean more layoffs.

The Politicians say that this tax will be “reserved for transportation projects” (“Trust me, this time for real.”) Since last year’s budget alone, more than a quarter of a billion dollars has been hijacked from the transportation fund. Now they want Maryland working families to pay at the pump for their incompetence. Our families shouldn’t have to pay for greedy politicians in Annapolis who can’t balance their budget; they should cut the budget before digging into our pocketbooks.

Patrick McGrady
Aberdeen, MD