BALTIMORE — Maryland state officials are showing support for President Biden’s gas tax holiday idea, and while many are for it, there are several others are against it.
Governor Larry Hogan and State Comptroller Peter Franchot are two Maryland officials who've shown support for a gas tax holiday.
Franchot, who's also running for governor, will be at a northwest Baltimore gas station Thursday morning to talk about why he wants state lawmakers to make it happen.
Many Maryland elected officials agree with president Biden's call for a 90-day federal and state gas tax holiday but not everyone is on board with the plan.
Some state leaders are at odds over concerns that the cutting the tax does more harm than good.
Talk of a federal and state gas tax holiday comes just as Maryland's gas tax is about to go up Friday, July 1, from about 36 cents to about 43 cents.
The federal government collects an additional 18 cents per gallon at the pump.
President Biden blames high gas prices on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. he's calling on congress and state lawmakers to put a hold on collecting gas taxes until the end of September.
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Comptroller Franchot will hold a press conference Thursday morning in Baltimore city to show his support for the president's initiative and ask state lawmakers to bring back Maryland’s gas tax holiday.
Maryland enacted a 30-day gas tax holiday in March but state lawmakers were reluctant to extend it.
Governor Hogan wants to not only pause the July 1st increase, but start up another gas tax holiday.
Hogan said he's ready to sign a gas tax suspension in to law. He'd also like to get it done before the July 4th holiday which is coming up in less than two weeks.
Hogan, a Republican, and Franchot, a Democrat, both support a state gas tax holiday. However, Republican and Democrat members of the General Assembly are not in agreement with each other.
Republican House leaders are calling for a special session to stop the automatic increase in the gas tax and to resume a gas tax holiday.
Meanwhile, the two Democrats who head the State Senate and House don't agree.
In May, Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones expressed opposition to another gas tax holiday as it would impact funds to repair state roads and bridges.
In response to the president's call for the states to drop their gas tax, Ferguson and Jones believe it's up to President Biden to ease costs saying "states cannot unilaterally bear the burden of increased gas prices driven in part by Putin's aggression in Ukraine and in part by the corporate greed of oil companies bringing in record profits."
The average gas price in Maryland has cooled off a bit from a high of $5.02 on June 14th to $4.90 as of June 23rd, but if the state gas tax increase goes into effect on July 1, drivers can expect to add another 7 cents to the price of gas.
