FREDERICK, MD – A handful of retailers in Maryland are letting their customers, and state officials, that they aren’t supportive of a July 1 gas tax increase. 

“I put the banner up because [state] Senator Young and Delegate Clagett were the only two representatives from Western Maryland to vote for this gas tax increase,” Joe Parsley, owner of the Frederick Shell Car Wash, told Your4State.com.

Dave Beall, owner of the Rosemont Service Station, also put up a banner, along with the Frederick Sunoco on Route 40. Parsley and Beall say the banners are intended to alert customers to a gas tax increase coming on July 1.

“This is taxation without representation because this tax will just go up forever based on the consumer price index,” Parsley told the news source. Both Parsley and Beall are concerned that customers will filter into neighboring states for gas. 

“We have already felt the effect with the different taxes that went into effect with the tobacco, with the alcohol, and now it's going to be the gas tax,” Beall said, adding, “We've seen constantly our business drop off every time another one of our products are taxed.” 

Delegate Clagett, meanwhile, said that now is the time to increase Maryland’s gas tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1992. “If you don't have the state money in the bucket, then you're not eligible for the federal money, so we were under the gun to get some money in place so that on the next wave, we would be eligible,” he said, adding that the extra revenue will increase transportation funding for the state.

In Maryland, the news source writes that the sales tax on gas will increase 4 cents this July, another 8 cents by July 2015, and an additional 8 cents by July 2016.

“It's just driving more business out of Maryland rather than bringing it into Maryland,” Beall commented. They're trying to bring up the revenue, but if the business decreases, that means a decrease in revenue also.”