Posted on 07/06/22
| News Source: WMAR2NEWS
If you’ve done any traveling recently, chances are, you’ve witnessed inflation making your travel expenses much higher.
During a board of public works meeting on Wednesday, Governor Hogan said he’s planning to do everything in his power to suspend to states gas tax.
Almost four months ago, Hogan said Maryland became the first state in the nation to suspend the states gas tax and now he wants to do it again.
“This Friday as families began to prepare for travel for the fourth of July holiday, they likely experienced some significant sticker shock at the gas pump. The legislature has the opportunity to fix this gas situation. I am prepared to immediately sign a gas tax suspension into law so that we can provide a much more needed relief for these crushing costs which are burdening families and small businesses,” Hogan said.
Treasurer Dereck Davis said the issue is much bigger than just suspending the states gas tax. He believes that’s a fraction to a much larger issue.
“I think the reality of it is it’s not the gas tax that’s the problem it’s the commodity itself,” Davis said.
Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Peter Franchot said the higher prices of fuel and inflation of everyday items are going to continue hurting families financially.
“This is not just a gas tax situation, the gas tax is really a signal to the future, a signal to what’s going on out in the economy right now. We are in a recession, the question is whether it’s going to be a soft recession that’s lasting several months or whether it’s going to be a long term year long recession. That’s a significant deep recession we want to avoid that in the way to do that is to do a small amount of stimulus work,” Franchot said.
In addition to suspending the states gas tax, he wants companies to let employees work from home, and use emergency funds to create a stimulus for Marylanders to help those who need it most.
“If we do $2,000 emergency survival checks to the 500,000 families that we know that are low wage earners and are struggling right now. This is not just the price of gasoline, this is something that’s affecting our groceries, our shopping, rent, everything is going up at a very very steep level. Let’s get a special session and make things happen immediately so that people will see it as a form of relief,” Franchot said.
Democrat house leaders like Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones don’t agree. They believe another gas tax holiday would impact the money used to repair things like state roads and bridges and a decrease in gas prices can only come at a national level from President Biden.