Md. legislature passes gas tax to pay for transportation
[I]Auto business specific bills pressed by MADA[/I]Like their counterparts in Virginia, Maryland legislators are also focused on transportation funding. Unlike their Virginia counterparts, Marylanders will get the funding from new taxes on gasoline. The State Senate late last week approved $4.4 billion in new transportation funding over the next six years in a bill the House had passed a week earlier. When fully implemented, the changes will add roughly $800 million a year to the states depleted Transportation Trust Fund.
That means the gas tax will increase for the first time since 1992. The current 23.5 cent per gallon tax will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index to adjust for inflation, but the increase cannot exceed 8 percent a year. Using the current price of gas as a benchmark, the gas tax would rise about 4 cents per gallon for each of the next three years.
This is a major victory for everyone who is sick of traffic, and a major boost for our economy, said the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance in a statement. [Thats] why this legislation enjoyed such strong support from leading business groups and transportation advocates in the state. Construction can now start on many planned road, bridge and intersection improvements, the Alliance added.
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