By: Elizabeth Shwe
A Republican lawmaker tried and failed to extend Maryland’s gasoline tax holiday by amendment on Thursday, and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) faced pushback from Republican lawmakers who felt debate was unfairly curtailed.
Del. Brenda Thiam (R-Washington) proposed the amendment to Senate Bill 215 — which would extend Maryland’s energy storage tax credit — to continue the statewide gas tax holiday for 45 days. The current tax break is set to expire April 16, and the amendment would have extended it through Memorial Day.
“Many are still struggling,” Thiam said. “Though we know this is a short-term relief, it’s a necessary relief.”
Last month, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) signed a measure that pauses the 36-cent-per-gallon tax that retailers owe the state, to ease what consumers pay at the pump in the wake of a spike in crude oil prices since Russia invaded Ukraine. Although the state does not have authority to set gas prices, consumers saw significantly reduced prices soon after lawmakers suspended the tax.
Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), Maryland’s chief tax collector and a candidate for governor, had called for a three-month pause on the state’s gas tax and recently wrote a Maryland Matters op-ed calling for the extended gas tax holiday.
“Comptroller Franchot strongly believes we need a 60-day extension to the gas tax holiday,” Susan O’Brien, spokeswoman for Franchot said. “There is time before Sine Die to get this extension in place — whether it is by a bill or by giving the Governor the power to extend it.
Read more at WTOP.
Photo: Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images.
