Published on Friday, February 03, 2012

There's a coordinated push by Gov. Martin O'Malley to raise Maryland's gasoline tax by applying the state's sales tax of 6 percent to fuel purchases. That means that, at current gas prices, the state tax would rise from 23.5 cents per gallon to 44.5 cents - an increase of 89 percent. This would make Maryland's gas tax the ninth-highest in the nation.

Published on Thursday, February 02, 2012

Jay Hancock gives our recently-released Policy Report on the proposed gas tax increase a plug on his blog.

Published on Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Gov. Martin O’Malley called for tax hikes Wednesday in his State of the State address, urging lawmakers to weigh those “tough choices, the costs and the trade-offs” against the jobs he hopes to support through increased spending on infrastructure.

Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2012

For hours last Wednesday Gov. Martin O'Malley didn't tell residents the price of the state budget he had just released.

Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2012

In August 2010, 19-year-old Daniel Schatz ran his pickup into the back of a tractor-trailer truck on Interstate 44 near Gray Summit, Mo. The collision set off a chain-reaction accident with two school buses, killing Schatz and a 15-year-old bus passenger, Jessica Brinker. Investigators later discovered that Schatz had been exchanging text messages on his cell phone while he drove, sending six and receiving five in the 11 minutes prior to the crash.  

Published on Monday, January 23, 2012

  The late, great Baltimore radio-talk-show host Ron Smith used to call him Father O’Malley and play religious music on air by way of introduction. It is an apt description of Maryland governor and former Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley, who moonlights as the buff frontman for the rock band O’Malley’s March, who speaks and writes in reverent tones about everything from septic systems to slot machines, from reducing crime in Baltimore to gay marriage.  

Published on Sunday, January 22, 2012

The saga of whether Wicomico County will come up with enough money to pay for a new Bennett Middle School continues. The County Council recently declined to make a commitment to raise taxes to fund this school before seeing the county executive's budget. For those angry at council members for being cautious about county finances, a more proper target for your vitriol would be our state's policymakers.

Published on Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A rewrite of the Nicene Creed from Maryland's philosopher king.

Published on Wednesday, January 18, 2012

An update on the proposed O'Malley budget for 2013, featuring commentary from our founder and president, Christopher B. Summers.

Published on Tuesday, January 17, 2012

ROCKVILLE, MD— As the Maryland General Assembly begins its new session, the Maryland Public Policy Institute today released a new policy report examining proposals that would shift the cost of teacher pensions from the state to Maryland’s counties.