The Baltimore Sun reports:
“Redirecting tax money to the general fund would help alleviate the budget crunch lawmakers have struggled with in recent years as the recession has cut into revenues and pushed up some spending. Under Maryland’s Constitution, the general fund budget must be balanced each year. There is no constitutional provision protecting transportation revenue from being used for other purposes. Attempts to add such a provision to the state Constitution have been repeatedly rebuffed.”
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Of course, a ten cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax would not only allow the transportation fund to return the full $220 million a year (currently generated by sales tax revenue) to the general fund, but would also increase the available amount in the transportation fund by $100 million.
