Maryland, My Maryland

 Jazz Shaw at Haut Hair, Maryland rushes to stop collecting gas tax rather than addressing real problems

We’ve been hearing a lot of noise coming from both the federal government and several states lately about the rising cost of gasoline and the need for someone to “do something about it.” Unfortunately for most of the elected officials involved in this, gas prices are determined by a complex, global ecosystem of supply and demand factors that remain almost entirely out of their control, at least in the short term. But the one portion of gas prices that actually can be directly impacted by legislative action is the amount of taxes that you pay. This has people at the White House and governors’ offices around the country who are getting nervous about angry motorists (ie. voters) and their sinking approval ratings thinking of slashing their own revenue in an effort to appease the masses. One of the first states to jump into the breach is probably going to be Maryland. They’ve already introduced a bill to temporarily suspend the state’s gas tax to bring down prices at the pump, and the measure has been put on a “fast track” with strong bipartisan support. (CBS Baltimore).

Some much-needed relief could soon be on the way for Marylanders facing skyrocketing prices at the pump.

State lawmakers on Friday introduced a piece of emergency legislation that would suspend collection of the state’s gas tax for 30 days, offering a break to residents who have been paying record gas prices.

While the bill has not yet been passed, it has bipartisan support and is being fast-tracked through the legislative process in an effort to send it to the governor’s desk for his signature next week.

Governor Larry Hogan (who has insanely decided not to run for the Senate) has already voiced support for the bill, so he’ll almost certainly sign it when it lands on his desk. Sadly, these types of “shoot from the hip” responses to complicated economic, market-driven issues rarely work out well, aside from generating a few positive headlines. A so-called “gas tax holiday” is no exception to this rule.

Well, I'm sure that 37 cents a gallon relief will soon be swallowed up by continued increases thanks to Preznit Klain's Biden's energy policies, and the insanity of Putin invading Ukraine.