Maryland Commission Recommends Increasing Gas Tax 63 Percent

Maryland’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding recommended yesterday that the state gas tax go from 23.5 cents per gallon to 38.5 cents per gallon over three years, a 63 percent increase. If the increase occurs and no other states raise their gas taxes, it would take Maryland from the 27th highest to the 6th highest gas tax in the country (behind California, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Illinois).

From the Washington Post:

It would be more than 60 percent higher than the District’s gas tax and nearly double that in Virginia. It would also be indexed to inflation, inching up indefinitely thereafter.

The proposal is similar to a 10-cent hike and indexing plan endorsed early this year by leading Democrats in the Maryland Senate, and co-sponsored by over a quarter of the members of the General Assembly.[…]

In all, the plan endorsed by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding would raise an estimated $870 million annually, with $491 million of that coming from what would be the first gasoline tax hike since 1992. Car registration fees would increase 50 percent, bringing in $165 million. Unspecified bus and rail fee increases would garner about $26 million.

More on Maryland here.