Message from the Chairman: 

Maryland's Gas Tax Increase - Why Are Our Business Associations So Dumb? 

Back when Bob Ehrlich was governor he urged businesses to get "dangerous" and not support politicians who voted against their interests.  Unfortunately Maryland's businesses never heeded him, and they continue to rely on business lobbying groups advocating for higher taxes.

Forty years ago Maryland established the Transportation Trust Fund as a dedicated budget for the Department of Transportation.  Revenue sources for the Trust Fund include gas taxes, vehicle titling taxes, vehicle license, registration and other fees, 24% of corporate income taxes, 5.3% of sales taxes and federal aid.

However Governor O'Malley has raided nearly $700 million from the Transportation Trust Fund in the past two fiscal years to help plug general fund deficits. This year's budget took out another $100 million.  Only $60 million of this latest raid will be repaid within five years and then not until FY 2014.  Another $40 million will be restored through new revenue from increased auto titling, vanity plate fees and dealers' processing charges passed during this year's session.  

How do our business lobbyists respond? The Maryland Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Greater Baltimore Committee have all lined up in support of higher gasoline tax of at least 10 cents a gallon.  They supported it "as long as lawmakers ensure the money is spent only on transportation projects." 

Think of it as a shell game.  Money is already collected for transportation that is supposedly held in "trust."  Instead it is used for other purposes.  Rather than fight to have the missing money restored to transportation, these business groups respond by supporting higher taxes and another solemn promise.

Complicity in this false choice between "higher gas taxes" for transportation spending is not limited business associations.  Remarkably even AAA Mid-Atlantic says they want a gas tax increase, if the money is guaranteed to build and maintain Maryland's transportation network.  

For example, for the past 30 years, the state has required Baltimore's public transportation to pay for 50% of its operating costs through "farebox revenues."  Yet, in addition to the O'Malley's Trust Fund raid, the Governor signed legislation this year allowing Baltimore's "farebox" share to drop to 40% of costs.  As a result even more state subsidies are required.

In past five years, the ranking of Maryland business climate has dropped to one of the worst in the country. 

So how do Maryland's business lobbyists respond?  They campaign for a tax increase opposed by roughly four out of five people in the state.

According to a recent survey was conducted by Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies,  78% of voters oppose increasing the tax by 10 cents per gallon, according to the survey. Even a 5 cent per gallon increase meets with opposition, as 59% of voters said they do not support such an increase.

Maybe Bob Ehrlich got it wrong.  Instead of asking the business community to be "dangerous," he should have told them to be not so dumb. 

Mark Uncapher

Montgomery County Republican Chairman 

The Maryland Public Policy Institute

Maryland transit spending: No bang for the buck 

Originally Published in the Baltimore Sun October 11, 2011

 by Wendell Cox

Unlike many elected officials and transportation planners, Maryland state comptroller Peter Franchot understands the connection between economic growth and mobility. Mr. Franchot proposed suspending the state's gasoline tax on long weekends during the summer to encourage people to travel.

The comptroller's proposal came at the same time Gov. Martin O'Malley's Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding considered recommendations to increase transportation funding, including a potential increase in the state gasoline tax.

This effort puts the cart before the horse. Before more money is sought, Maryland should ensure that all transportation money is spent on transportation and that maximum value is obtained from transportation expenditures. The commission rightly noted the necessity of putting the "trust" back into the state Transportation Trust Fund. For years, governors have taken money from the transportation trust fund to balance the state budget. Since 2003, these raids have totaled $675 million.

Meanwhile, traffic congestion in the state continues to worsen, and this bureaucratic process has wronged drivers and commercial motor freight carriers. First, they paid fuel taxes they were promised would be used to improve transportation but which were instead diverted to other uses. Second, they have had to sit longer in traffic because the transportation improvements were not made.

Maryland faces a serious competitiveness problem in transportation. Traffic congestion has continued to increase over the last 10 years across the state and especially in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas. Congestion imposes costs, not only in terms of personal and business time, but also by increasing the cost of goods and services because transportation costs are higher.

Once trust has been restored, transportation money needs to be used effectively. We know, for example, that transportation improvements reducing travel times the most lead to greater economic growth, more job creation and reduction of poverty. In recent years, approximately 45 percent of Maryland's road and transit funding has been spent on transit. Yet, transit only accounts for approximately 3 percent of travel in the state. This disparity is caused in part by an intention, or an illusion, that transit can attract a material share of drivers from their cars. Approximately the same share of Marylanders get to work by transit today as did in 1980, illustrating the negligible effect of this imbalance.

Transit has failed to change the commuting equation partly because it has virtually no potential to materially reduce travel times; transit takes so much longer for most trips than cars. For example, in the Baltimore metropolitan area, the average one-way transit work trip takes 53 minutes, nearly double the average trip to work by car at 28 minutes. In the Washington metropolitan area, the average one-way transit work trip takes 47 minutes compared to the average automobile work trip time of 32 minutes.

At the same time, a recent Brookings Institution report found that, on average, fewer than 10 percent of the jobs in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas can be reached by transit within 45 minutes during peak periods. No wonder that nearly 85 percent of Marylanders use cars to get to work, while fewer than 1 in 10 use transit. Transit is not a viable option for the overwhelming majority of workers in Maryland, at whatever conceivable level of expenditure.

These times are difficult for taxpayers and for the governments they finance. Things are not likely to improve in the near future. Considering an increase in the gasoline tax is premature when the state hasn't even spent transportation money for transportation. Moreover, spending should be focused on improving economic outcomes, which means reducing travel times and at the lowest cost per reduced hour of delay.

Wendell Cox is principal of Demographia, an international consulting public policy firm in the St. Louis metropolitan area. He is also a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris (a national university) and a visiting fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute.

A RAILROAD JOB BY DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP ON REDISTRICTING: O'Malley Forces His Congressional Map Protecting Incumbents Through the Senate

From the Office of: Senator Nancy Jacobs  

I joined with every member of the Republican Party to fight the Governor's Congressional Districting plan. Despite our unified front, the number of Democrats willing to fall in line behind the power structure in Annapolis did result in O'Malley's map getting preliminary approval in the Senate.

This Congressional map is simply about partisan politics and not about people. Even members of the Democratic Party's own base who are victimized by the scheme testified against it. We heard from African American's in Montgomery County complain that their neighborhoods are broken up without good reason. 

Congresswoman Donna Edwards says it splits close-knit minority communities. The Montgomery County Council President and a Latina Councilwoman also testified against the Governor's redistricting map. The League of Women Voters, Common Cause and ordinary citizens testified against the Governors' Plan.

Republican's introduced three alternative maps. All three keep the rural areas together. All three allow for an extra Minority-Majority district in the Maryland suburbs near Washington D.C. Why is it all three were rejected when they serve all the people best? The Democratic Machine bulldozed the alternative plans into the ground in a cold blooded attempt to hold on to power.

We must act at the voting booth. This power grab comes as 

O'Malley announces he will consider raising the gas tax by as much as 15 cents a gallon. We must change the balance of power in Annapolis. All the Democratic Leadership cares about their head count in Washington...not about the people.

Maryland House Republicans Offer Fair Redistricting Map 

Prior to the adopting of the Governor redistricting proposal, Republicans this week called on Governor Martin O'Malley to introduce a congressional redistricting map that provides fair representation for all of Maryland's citizens. 

"The gerrymandered mess that the Redistricting Advisory Committee created is not the Governor's only option", said House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell.  "There are several alternative plans that offer compact, contiguous districts and provide equitable representation to everyone."

Senate President Mike Miller referred to the Redistricting Advisory Committee's map as "aesthetically pleasing".  But criticism of the plan has come from both sides of the aisle as well as from minorities who feel they are not being adequately representing under the proposed plan. 

 "The citizens of Maryland deserve a map that is more than aesthetically pleasing", said Minority Whip Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio.  "They deserve a plan that is based on their needs, not the needs of party bosses trying to increase their power."

Several alternative plans were introduced after the General Assembly convenes for a Special Session last Monday, October 17th.  Delegate Michael Hough had a plan that will create three majority-minority districts rather than the two in the Committee's plan.  The Minority Leader sponsored a Good Government Plan that also creates three majority-minority districts and a district solely for Baltimore City and inside the beltway communities.

 Janice Connolly, a long-time leader of the Mid-Montgomery WRC and member of the MFRW, passed away on Monday, October 3, in Sarasota,FL.  Mrs. Connolly was involved in planning fundraisers for the Montgomery County WRCs, as well as for many individual candidates.  She also worked to get speakers for the Olney WRC and others in order to educate the members on issues related to supporting our soldiers.   

Viewings will be held at Collins Funeral Home in Silver Spring, MD, on Monday, November 7 from 3-5 and 7-9 PM, with a funeral service at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Silver Spring at 12:30 PM on Tuesday, November 8 and internment to follow at Arlington National Cemetery at 3:00 PM.  If anyone has any questions, they are welcome to email her granddaughter, Jessie Bykowski, at  jessiepace@yahoo.com  or to call her at  (301) 404-0582