Evening star., 1927-03-29
PROTESTS HIGHER
TAX ON GASOLINE
M. & M. Secretary Opposes
Proposal in D. c. to Match
Maryland Increase.

Vigorous opposition to the proposal
| that cents gasoline tax be imposed
on the residents of the District OF
| Columbia, in order to match the recent
| increased tax. voted by the Maryland
| Legislature, today was voiced by I'D
ward l.. Shaw, executive secretary of
| the Merchants and Manufacturers
| Association in behalf of the association
which he said would study the matter
| The imposition of the increased gaSo-
| line tax, the trade secretary pointed
| out, would mean an increase OF ap'
| proximately million dollars expense
| on the automobile owners of the DIS
| trict annually.
Just because Maryland is disposed
| to increase its gasoline tax in order
to provide better rural roads is no
justification, Mr.. Shaw argues, for
raising the tax burden here.
Mr.. Shaw predicted that any fur
ther effort to increase this taxation
would be met with no little opposi-
ton" on the part of automobile owners
of the District.
Maryland and ID. G. COntrasted.
Maryland covers an area of almost
10000 square miles, whereas the Dis
trict of Columbia has an area of but
60 square miles" he said. maryland,
therefore. is 165 times larger than the
District and the problem of building
and maintaining the roads in these
two adjacent territories Is a vastly
different one.
ITO maintain $40 miles of the i'm
proved roads Of the District is far less
expensive than maintaining the sew
eral thousand miles which are neces-
sary in Maryland to cover this much
larger area. If Maryland can main
tain end extend it's 2,429 miles of i'm
proved highway with its present tax
derived from 250,000 automobile opera
tors, 1t certainly Is reasonable to sup
pose that the cost to the 100000
motorists of Washington with a much
smaller road mileage should be very
much lower While District motorists
do go into Maryland occasionally. the
vast ma jority of mileage driven by the
average District automobile operator
is over District roads.
of course, an increase in the gas
tax in Maryland will probably work
hardship upon the gas filling stations
located in the territory immedia tely
surrounding the District, but it would
be manifestly unfair to increase the
tax of 1000 900 people to the extent of
million dollars annually simply to
enable these few dealers to compete
with the District stations.
"The only justification for an in.
crease in the gasoline tax would be
that the present tax was not sufficient
to maintain the present roads and con
struct the necessary new roads in the
District, and facts indicated that an
additional tax should be paid by the
automobile users. It is reported how
ever, that the District Commissioners
feel that the car owners are already
paying their share in proportion to
the use which they make of the roads
Reciprocity Pact Cited.
when the reciprocity agreement
between Maryland and the District
was reached two years ago the Dis
tl1ct adopted a gasoline tax of cents
per gallon. the same as was then in
effect in Maryland The automobile
owners were given to understand that
by the adoption of this gas tax the
personal property tax would be abol-
ished, but no step in this direction
has thus far been taken. so that the
automobile owners Of the District
have been paying 81 900, 900 tax in ad-
1itiOu TO the DprSonaI pr0uertv tav -