Presented To:
House Ways and Means Committee, House Appropriations Committee
Senate Budget and Taxation Committee
The League of Women Voters of Maryland has long been promoting efforts to increase Maryland’s revenue stream in order to have an adequate and efficient fiscal structure for the state. Therefore, we applaud the Governor for his proposals to address the structural deficit and move Maryland in a positive financial direction. While we are in general agreement with most of his proposals, over the next few days we will be submitting testimony with our comments on some aspects of each of them.
While we recognize the need to enhance funding for the Transportation Trust Fund we are concerned about shifting revenue from car rental and corporate tax from the General Fund to the Transportation Trust Fund. The Governor’s proposals for increasing revenue for the General Fund barely cover the budget gap and don’t begin to address the many unmet needs in the state. Taking revenue away from the general fund only makes the problem worse.
The League of Women Voters strongly supports a balanced transportation system and increasing funding for mass transit. Therefore we recognize the need to find sources of additional revenue for the Transportation Trust Fund. We support the idea of indexing an increase in the gas tax on an annual basis. This will allow for growth in the Transportation Trust Fund as the economy grows. However, given the many needs in transportation infrastructure, an initial increase in the gas tax of ½ cent per gallon seems insufficient. A larger increase than the proposed ½ cent would allow more of the other revenue slated to be deferred to the Transportation Trust Fund to remain in the General Fund. The League supports a gas tax for transportation that is adequate to meet transportation needs and has measures to protect the environment.
