–The following article was submitted by Delegate Bob Long of District 6 about the gas tax increase on July 1-
I am sure that you noticed that the gas prices shot up over the past weekend. That is because there was another increase in the gas of 11 percent.
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill in 2013 that raised the gas tax in increments over the years. It has been a decade since that horrible bill was passed but O’Malley’s unwanted gift keeps on giving we are still seeing another increase of 5 cents per gallon. That raises the tax to 47 cents per gallon.
Republican Del. Matt Morgan of Southern Maryland introduced a bill that I cosponsored to put a stop to the latest increase and that bill was never brought out for a vote.
Del. Morgan created an amendment of his bill and tried adding it onto another existing bill for a vote.
All Republicans and two Democrats voted in favor of the amendment that would stop the gas tax increase, but it was voted down by all Democrats.
Some of the Democratic leadership responded that it was not appropriate to add that gas tax increase moratorium onto an existing bill. That is nonsense because the Democrats would never bring out Del. Morgan’s original bill for a vote.
We urge the Governor to call for a Special Session to cap this increase. Unfortunately, we are already bearing the brunt of this gas tax increase on top of high gas prices and inflation.
However, it does not appear that he intends to call for a Special Session.
If Gov. Moore is truly concerned about this gas tax increase, he needs to address it now.
The Governor should have been more supportive of Del. Morgan’s bill during this past session, and we wouldn’t have seen an increase on July 1st.
