Gas tax passes through the House

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The gas tax bill has passed through the House with a vote of 78 - 56.

It doesn’t seem very popular throughout the state, but that doesn’t matter because Maryland is now be one step closer to increasing the gas tax.

The bill was up for a final vote in the House on Friday and passed. Now the bill will move on to the Senate.

The last time the gas tax went up was in 1992.

Governor O’Malley is proposing the gas tax to raise money for transportation projects.

Under his plan, the bill would raise hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

But the house has scaled back his plan by implementing a more gradual gas tax that would rise by varying degrees over the next several years.

The measure would apply a 1 percent sales tax in July in addition to the state's 23.5-cents-per-gallon excise tax. The increase would add 3.3 cents to the price of a gallon of gas. The bill also includes an adjustment for inflation that would add another half-penny in July 2014, for a total of nearly 4 cents.